Kerala not to raise Mullaperiyar water level: Chandy

Thiruvananthapuram, Feb 27: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy today (Feb 27, 2006) made it clear that his Government would still stick to its stand of not raising the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam above 136 feet.

Reacting to the Supreme Court verdict permitting Tamil Nadu to raise the water level to 142 feet from the present 136 feet, he told reporters here that the verdict was not a 'setback' to Kerala Government.

Mr Chandy said after obtaining the copy of the judgement, the Government would take appropriate action, including filing review petition, after discussing the issue with legal experts.

"We are not against Tamil Nadu and ready to extend any kind of help to them," he said, adding that the Government's stand of stipulating the water level to 136 feet was not to harm the interest of Tamil Nadu.

"The decision fixing the water level to 136 feet was based on the technical study by experts in the field and we are not ready to take any risk at the cost of the people," he pointed out.

Mr Chandy said his Government had held several rounds of talks with Tamil Nadu and the doors were still open for dialogues.

UNI