TN should raise dam water level to 142 ft: Ramadoss

Chennai, Dec 11: ''Tamil Nadu should go ahead and do its work'' to raise the water level in the Mullaiperiyar dam to 142 ft, if the next round of ministerial level of talks with Kerala on the vexed issue failed, Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder leader S Ramadoss said today.

Talking to mediapersons here, he said after the chief ministers of the two states failed to break the impasse, the ministerial level talks would only be a formality. ''If the talks failed, then, as hinted by Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, we should go ahead and do our work.'' Soon after the Supreme Court had passed an order, allowing Tamil Nadu to raise the water level to 142 ft, the state government should have passed a government order and sent its officials to the dam site, but the DMK government failed to do its work.

Referring to Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee President Ramesh Chinnithala's remark that Kerala was for a ''new dam and a new agreement,'' the PMK leader regretted that when the entire political spectrum in Kerala was united on the issue, there were divided views in Tamil Nadu.

Dr Ramadoss, welcoming Mr Karunanidhi's suggestion for inter-linking of rivers, demanded that the river water resources should be nationalised to get over the hurdles to inter-linking rivers. ''The chief minister, weilding enormous clout with the Centre, should utilise this opportunity and press for inter-linking of rivers in the country,'' he said.

The Kerala Water Resources Minister T M Jacob had rightly pointed out that Article 262 of the Constitution and schedule 17 of state list should be amended for any state to claim legal rights for seeking water diversification, he said and wanted Mr Karunanidhi to take necessary steps in this regard.

Expressing dissatisfaction over the the ''tardy'' implementation of Tamil as the official language in the State, Dr Ramadoss said the PMK would organise a state-wide protest demonstration on December 18, to press for the full implementation of Tamil as the official language in the State. The State Government could use English for Centre and inter-state communication, he said.

Asked about the linguistic minorities expressing apprehensions on Tamil being made as the sole official language in Madras High Court, Dr Ramadoss expressed hope that some alternative provisions would be made for the continued use of English for the benefit of linguistic minorities. ''The PMK, however, is of the firm view that Tamil be made as court language at the earliest,'' he said.

He said Mr Karunanidhi, after coming to power for a record fifth time, was implementing several commendable programmes and should take up a ''five-point agenda'' at the national and global level.

At the national level, the Chief Minister should ensure implementation of 27 per cent reservation for OBC at higher educational institutions at one go, introduce reservation in private sector, make education purely as a state subject, make all the 18 Indian languages as official languages of the Centre and take steps for inter-linking of rivers.

At the global level, Mr Karunanidhi should strive for finding a solution to the Sri Lankan Tamils issue, he said. A solution to the ethnic crisis could be found only during his life time, he added.

Dr Ramadoss welcomed the Chief Minister announcing a reward of Rs 15 lakh to athlete Shanti, who won Silver in the Doha Asian games. If her father had said that Shanti had made it by having a ''diet of gruel'', then it was an issue to be addressed by the Tamil Nadu Sports Development Authority, which had a budget support of Rs 39.87 crore for this year.

Had the authority taken care of Shanti, she could have won even Gold for India, Dr Ramadoss said.

UNI