Mullaperiyar: DPA delegation seeks PM's help

New Delhi, Nov 27: A DPA MPs delegation from Tamil Nadu today sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's immediate intervention in the Mullaiperiyar dam issue to restrain Kerala so that the height of the dam could be raised from 136 ft to 142 ft.

Union Ministers from Tamil Nadu were also part of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) delegation which called on Dr Singh.

The DPA, comprising the DMK, PMK, CPI, CPIM and the Congress, also sought deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the dam for its security.

Statistics and Programme Implementation Minister G K Vasan said the Prime Minister gave a patient hearing. Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz was already taking steps to resolve the issue, he added.

The meeting comes ahead of Wednesday's meeting here between Chief Ministers M Karunanidhi of Tamil Nadu and V S Achuthanandan of Kerala to thrash out the differences between the two states on the dam issue.

The dam, constructed in Kerala across Mullaiperiyar river, is maintained by Tamil Nadu.

Last week, a delegation from Kerala had met the Prime Minister to protest against Tamil Nadu government's move to raise the height of the dam, stating that the old dam was already not safe and any further raise would threaten villages in its vicinity.

''Raising the water level to 142 feet as ordered by the Supreme Court is absolutely necessary to irrigate the lands in about two lakh acres in the drought-prone districts of Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram,'' the DPA said in a memorandum submitted to the Prime Minister.

When the matter concerning the safety of the dam had already been settled by the Supreme Court on February 27 this year, the Kerala government chose to deploy navy divers to check the safety of the dam in ''utter disregard'' of the apex court's order, the delegation said.

UNI

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