Kerala Govt. to seek Manmohan Singh's intervention in water dispute

Thiruvananthapuram, June 15 (ANI): Kerala's State Water Resources Minister N K Premachandran on Monday said that CM V. S. Achuthanandan would write to Prime Minister seeking his intervention to resolve the Mullaperiyar reservoir dispute with Tamil Nadu.

This comes in the light of an expert committee warning that the safety of the 100-year-old dam was under threat.

Premachandran while giving details of the Committee's findings during media interaction here, also said that the committee had suggested that construction work.

He said that the Kerala State Government was awaiting the final verdict of the Supreme Court in the case to proceed further on construction work.

The committee found that there were a number of openings created due to large-scale peeling of plaster and that water seepage through these cavities had increased. It also pointed out that the equipment installed by the Tamil Nadu government to measure the uplift pressure did not yield expected results, he said.

Water storage level in Mullaperiyar reservoir, located in Kerala's Idduki District and maintained by Tamil Nadu, has been a matter of dispute between the two states.

While Kerala wants to maintain the water level at 136 feet considering the safety of the dam, Tamil Nadu has been insisting on raising the water level to 142 feet.

Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu Government has opposed the idea of constructing a new dam. (ANI)