Tiruchirapalli: Symbolising death to highlight their plight, a group of farmers today buried themselves neck deep in the dry riverbed near here as they pressed for setting up of the Cauvery Management Board. Resorting to a mock funeral, the farmers led by P Ayyakannu with rose garlands around their necks got themselves into pits on the Cauvery riverbed at Srirangam.

Ayyakannu in a bizarre protest in New Delhi last year had led Tamil Nadu farmers in symbolically biting rats and going naked to press their demand for a Rs 40,000 crore drought-relief package from the centre. Today, he and others sought to drive home the point that the farmers were facing a near death situation due to non-availability of Cauvery water for irrigation.

Choosing the famous temple town of Srirangam, encircled by the river Cauvery and its tributary Kollidam in the heart of the delta region, the farmers staged the 'burial protest' for nearly two hours. Later they were removed by police personnel with the help of volunteers. Tense moments prevailed for some time when a group of about 50 farmers earlier arrived at the venue raising slogans, demanding immediate constitution of the CMB.

When all of them tried to bury themselves, police personnel prevented them from doing so and allowed only 17 of them to stage the protest. They immediately dug a pit and covered themselves with sand and raised slogans against the Centre for not setting up the CMB, despite the directive of the Supreme Court. "We will wait up to April 9. we trust we will get justice," 73-year-old Ayakannu told PTI. The Supreme Court is scheduled to hear on that date the petitions of Tamil Nadu and the centre over formation of CMB.

On his next action plan, Ayyakannu, president of National South Indian Rivers Inter-Linking Farmers Association, said "we have no other option, but to follow the Gandhian path of non-violence and self-suffering..." Meanwhile, a group of college students held an agitation beside a reservoir, near Thanjavur, demanding constitution of CMB.

The issue of setting up the CMB has been rocking Tamil Nadu over the past few days, with ruling AIADMK and opposition DMK among others staging protests. The ruling AIADMK, led by Chief Minister K Palaniswamy and his deputy O Paneerselvam, had observed a hunger strike on April 4 while the DMK led opposition parties' had observed a state-wide bandh yesterday.

DMK leader M K Stalin had accused the AIADMK regime of being "subservient" to the Centre and said the state should pressure the Centre to withdraw its plea in the Supreme Court. The Centre has submitted a petition, seeking 'clarification' on the scheme mentioned by the apex court to ensure compliance of its verdict over allocation of Cauvery water among the riparian states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Puducherry and Kerala.

The Tamil Nadu government had sought contempt action against the Centre for "failure" to frame the scheme within six weeks from the date of Supreme Court's February 16 judgement. (PTI)