Mullaperiyar issue: Kerala delegation meets PM

New Delhi, Nov 24: A delegation of Kerala MPs today called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in context of the Mullaperiyar river water issue with neighbouring Tamil Nadu reaching a flash point.

The delegation sought Dr Singh's personal intervention to settle the dispute between the two states with regard to the raising of the level of the inter-state Mullaperiyar dam.

The delegation met the Prime Minister at his chamber in Parliament complex.

It said Kerala was genuinely worried over any increase in the level of the dam beyond 136 ft as the dam was constructed 112 years ago.

''We are not saying that we will not give water to Tamil Nadu.

But we are concerned about the safety of the people in at least four districts which would be submerged in the event of a breach in the dam," Mr Varkala Radhakrishnan and Mr Francis George, both Lok Sabha MPs, told the Prime Minister.

They explained that a team of Naval divers were pressed into service yesterday only to ascertain if there were any seepages in the dam. They were immediately withdrawn when Tamil Nadu objected to the exercise.

Referring to yesterday's picketing blockading the movement of vehicles into Kerala from Tamil Nadu, the delegation said the agitation by workers of several political parties of the neighbouring state was nothing but "declaration of war against Kerala." "The Prime Minister termed as unfortunate the incidents across the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border yesterday," Mr George told UNI after the meeting.

Dr Singh gave a patient hearing to the delegation and assured them that he would make all efforts to settle the dispute through dialogue.

He hoped that both the contending states would thrash out the dispute at the Centre-sponsored meeting of Chief Ministers in New Delhi on November 29.

The Mullaperiyar water sharing has been a bone of contention between the two states for several decades. While Kerala is against raising the level of the dam beyond 136 ft due to safety reasons, Tamil Nadu wants to raise the level to 152 ft. However, the Supreme Court has recently ordered that the level be raised to 142 ft. The Kerala government has passed a legislation six months ago to circumvent the Apex court ruling.

The immediate provocation for both the states to come head-on was the sudden spurt in the storage of the Mullaperiyar due to copious rainfall from the North-East monsoon since last month.

UNI

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