Palar: TN Govt will protect State's interests, says Minister

Chennai, Dec 10 (UNI) Tamil Nadu Public Works Minister Duraimurugan today said the State Government will take all steps to protect the interests of the State in the wake of the Andhra Pradesh (AP) Government proposing to build dams across Palar and Ponnaiyaru.

Asked about the Andhra Government's move to build a dam across Ponnaiyaru, the Minister said it would not be proper to discuss in public as to what the State Government proposed to do on this issue.

''We will take all appropriate steps to protect the interests of the State,'' the Minister told newspersons on the sidelines of a function here.

Mr Duraimurugan said the Government proposed to build two dams to store river Krishna water, being received from Andhra Pradesh, to meet the drinking water needs of the city. Steps were being taken to build dams at Ramancheri and Thirukandalam in north Chennai.

Meanwhile, Marumalarchi DMK (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko demanded that the Tamil Nadu Government prevent Andhra Pradesh from constructing a dam across Ponnaiyaru, which flowed 39 km in Tamil Nadu before merging with Palar.

In a statement here, he said building the dam would disrupt drinking water supply to areas around Vellore and deprive water to 129 lakes and 8,814 acres of land in Vellore district.

Mr Vaiko said Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy had laid the foundation stone for the dam on December six at Kuppam and his Government had allotted Rs ten crore for the project.

It was initially announced that the foundation stone for the dam across Palar would be laid on December 6, but on the same day, the Ponniayaru dam project was also launched, he said.

UNI