Kerala CM to visit Mullaperiyar as water rises

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 17: Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan will visit Mullaperiyar tomorrow to assess the situation arising from the rising water level in the 111-year-old dam.

Briefing media here after a Cabinet meeting, he said he would visit the dam with Ministers N K Premachandran (Water Resources) K P Rajendran (Revenue) and Kodiyeri Balakrishnan (Home).

An all-party meeting would be convened here on November 20 to discuss the serious situation caused by water level rising above the safety mark of 136 ft. The dam, made of 'surki' mixture could not withstand the pressure if level went above 136 ft and in the event of any breach, the lives of 3.5 million people would be endangered.

Expressing hope that an amicable solution could be arrived at on the vexed issue of storage level at the meeting with Tamil Nadu convened by the Centre on November 29, he said the Kerala Government had no intention of taking a provocative stand.

'We are giving water to Tamil Nadu from the dam for irrigation, drinking water purpose and for generating electricity. But now the issue is the safety of people living downstream.' He claimed Tamil Nadu, which wanted to raise the water level to 142 ft, would be forced to accept the status quo of 136 ft as it had realised the gravity of the situation. When it released excess water from the reservoir to its territory, it had caused extensive damage.

With water level crossing 138.5 ft last night, the Kerala Government began preparing a comprehensive disaster mitigation plan.

UNI

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