Mullaperiyar Bill: Call for Centre's intervention

Chennai, Mar 15 (UNI) Reacting strongly to the Kerala Government enacting a law to retain the water level of the Mullaperiyar Dam at 136 ft, leaders of various political parties in Tamil Nadu today urged the Centre to intervene in the matter immediately and ensure that Kerala implemented the Supreme Court's order on the issue.

State Public Works Minister O Panneerselvam told UNI that the government was awaiting full details of the bill passed in the Kerala Assembly.

''Since it is an inter-state problem, we will first go into all details. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa will initiate strong and concrete steps to counter the Kerala Government's move,'' he added.

Stating the Kerala Government had shown undue haste in rushing through the bill, CPI State Secretary D Pandian told UNI that one state's attempt to deprive irrigation facilities of another would amount to ''anti-national'' act.

If the Kerala Government was not happy with the apex court's direction to raise the level of the dam to 142 feet, then the just course for them was to have held negotiations with Tamil Nadu, he opined.

Urging political parties not to use the Mullaperiyar issue as a weapon for political propaganda in the coming elections in both the states, Mr Pandian said the Tamil Nadu Government should immediately take up the matter with the Centre as ''there will be no use in going to court on an appeal.'' ''Our party will do its best to impress upon the Centre to intervene in the matter,'' he added.

Senior DMK leader and Former Public Works Department Minister Duraimurugan said a similar situation had arisen on the Cauvery issue before.

Stating the Karnataka Government failed to honour the interim order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal even after a Supreme Court directive, he said the latest development had only shown the Tamil Nadu Government was ''inefficient and incapable to deal with the problem.'' He dubbed the Kerala Government's enactment of a law by convening a special session of the Assembly as an ''election stunt.'' The BJP also criticised the Kerala Government for convening the special session of the Assembly after the announcement of election date which was ''in violation of the Model Code of Conduct.'' BJP National Secretary Bandaru Dattatreya urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to immediately intervene in the matter and ensure that Kerala implemented the Supreme Court order.

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