Kerala seeks reason from TN for withdrawing from Mullaperiyar talk

Thiruvananthapuram, Jan 5 (UNI) Kerala Water Resources Minister N K Premachandran today sought a clarification from Tamil Nadu for their decision to unilaterally withdraw from talks on the Mullaperiyar issue.

In a statement here, the Minister pointed out that Tamil Nadu had agreed to continue the dialogue after the December 12 talks in New Delhi.

Tamil Nadu had the resposibility to explain the reasons for withdrawing from the talks after holding two rounds of discussions as per the direction of the Supreme Court, he said.

The Minister claimed that the decision of Tamil Nadu was an indication that their arguments for raising the water level in the 111-year-old dam were very weak. The dam posed a serious safety threat to the people and it should be replaced by a new one.

Referring to the demand of Tamil Nadu to deploy central forces at Mullaperiyar, he said there was no question of allowing any other force other than Kerala police in its territory.

UNI