Congress urges Govt to prevent AP from constructing check dam

Chennai, Jan 23 (UNI) Congress today urged the Tamil Nadu government to prevent Andhra Pradesh from constructing a check dam across the Palar river, which catered to the irrigation needs of five northern districts of the state.

Participating in a debate on the motion of thanks to the Governor's address, Mr C Gnanasekaran (Congress) cited media reports that the Andhra Pradesh Government had earmarked Rs 30 crore for the project and the foundation stone was to be laid today.

Despite Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y Rajasekara Reddy's assurance to State Ministers M K Stalin and K Ponmudy, when the latter called on him at Hyderabad a few months ago, that he would not implement the project without prior consultation with Tamil Nadu, the neighbouring state had decided to go ahead with dam construction, he said.

Stating that it was a betrayal of the people belonging to five northern districts of Tamil Nadu, he asked how the DMK Government was going to prevent it.

Mr Gnanasekaran urged Chief Minister M Karunanidhi to immediately hold talks with his Andhra Pradesh counterpart to stall the project as Palar river was a lifeline to the five districts.

He also urged the Government to prevail upon the Union Environment Ministry not to give clearance to the project.

Otherwise, all the five districts would face a servere water crisis, he added.

He also welcomed the Government's request to the Centre to implement the project for inter-linking of rivers expeditiously.

UNI