Jaya seeks to reach out to the people of Kerala on dam issue

Chennai, Dec 10: With the row over the Mullaiperiyar dam issue hotting up, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on Saturday sought to reach out to the people of Kerala, saying there is no valid reason to believe that the reservoir is unsafe and they should see through the 'machinations' of vested interests and divisive forces in both states.

Appealing to the people of Kerala not to succumb to any divisive forces in the interests of both states, she said it was unfortunate that a fear psychosis among the people of Kerala was being built up.

'As the Mullaiperiyar Dam is fully safe and as good as new, the people of Kerala should see through the machinations of vested interests' and should feel secure that the retrofitted dam was as good as new and not a 'threat to the lives and properties of the people of the region,' she said in full page advertisements in major dailies.

Jayalalithaa, who had earlier written to her counterpart in Kerala Oommen Chandy to reassure him that the dam was totally safe, said, "There is no valid reason to believe that the dam is unsafe. It is unfortunate that a fear psychosis among the people of Kerala is being built up."

Tracing the history of the 116-year old reservoir, she said the human settlements in the area were much above the reach of the flood waters of the dam and the Idukki reservoir of Kerala was designed to absorb the flood and the moderate flood up to about 4,00,000 cubic feet of water per second.

PTI