Create conducive atmosphere on Mullaperiyar, Vaiko to Centre

Madurai, Sep 19 (UNI) Demanding the Centre to create a conducive atmosphere for implementing the Supreme Court order on reverting the storage level in the Mullaperiyar Dam, MDMK General Secretary Vaiko today warned of the serious consequences Kerala's intransigence in this matter would pose for the sovereignty and integrity of the country.

Addressing the ''Mullaperiyar Rights Retrieval Rally,'' which culminated into a massive public meeting in the city tonight, he also urged the Centre to declare as illegal the Kerala Dam Safety Act, 'passed to circumvent the Apex Court verdict.' ''The Act is a challenge to the authority of the Supreme Court,'' he said pointing out that if every state took recourse to such a path, usurping the rights of other states, unity of the country would be in peril.

The fiery orator made it clear that Tamil Nadu was not seeking alms but only wanted to retrieve its ''inalienable rights'' over the dam.

As such, the Centre should disregard the petition of an all-party delegation of Kerala, led by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan, seeking control over the dam.

In his view, this demand was 'atrocious and unjust.' For any move on the part of the Centre to consider the petition would set a very dangerous precedent and threaten the country's integration, he warned.

Even while being firm, he used a persuasive language urging the political leadership of Kerala to see reason and give up their intransigence.

They should stop raising one hoax after another, like the bogey of quakes, which have been exposed time and again and give up attempts at indoctrinating the people of that state.

Singling out Mr Achuthanandan, for a scathing attack, he accused him of being chauvinistic in this issue right from the beginning.

''Where have proletarian internationalism, which the Marxists continue to harp on, gone?'' he quipped and questioned the rationale of the CPI(M) suggesting a dialogue to resolve the issue.

''What is there to talk?'' he asked pointing out that the Apex Court was very clear and unambiguous in its judgment. Stating the Centre was bound to preserve the magisterium of the Apex Court, he said only rule of law and not the law of the jungle would help the Indian state to remain together.

On the catastrophic effects of the stalemate, Vaiko pointed out that already 80,000 acre in the five southern districts of Tamil Nadu had been desertified due to non-availability of Periyar water for the last 20 years.

A conservative estimate put the annual loss in agricultural production accounted for Rs 400 crore, he claimed.

Appealing to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to place the 'future of Tamils' ahead of coalition compulsions and rise above alliance politics, he asked to him to take firm steps to retrieve the rights of the state over the dam.

Shedding complacency, the DMK Government should strive to get the Apex Court verdict implemented, he added.

Tamil Nadu's rights over Cauvery had been usurped by Karnataka which was not complying with the Tribunal's interim award, he lamented adding there was also no guarantee that the final award would be implemented.

The fate of the farmers of the southern districts should not go that way, he warned. Cumbum Valley Farmers' Association Vice-President K A Abbas, who had authored two well documented books on the issue, addressed the meeting.

Resoultions adopted at the meeting urged the Centre to take all necessary steps to expeditiously handover effective control and maintenance of the dam and facilitate hiking the storage in the reservoir initially to 142 ft and later revert to the original level of 152 ft after the minor repairs, as per the Supreme Court order.

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