Jayalalithaa was annoyed with reports that said that the Kerala Government officials were not allowing engineers of the Tamil Nadu Public Works Department to fill the holes drilled on the Dam.
The Mullaperiyar Dam issue, a bone of contention between Tamil Nadu and Kerala for the last five decades, reached a flashpoint on Sunday with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to deploy the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the site.
Jayalalithaa was annoyed with reports that said that the Kerala Government officials were not allowing engineers of the Tamil Nadu Public Works Department to fill the holes drilled on the Dam to check its strength. The drillings were done by experts of the Empowered Committee headed by Justice AS Anand to study the safety of the 116 year old Dam over which the two states are engaged in a legal war.
In a letter addressed to the Prime Minister, Jayalalithaa warned that if the Centre fails to deploy CISF personnel, Tamil Nadu would send its police to guard the dam and help the engineers to fill the holes.
“It was necessary to fill the holes before the onset of the monsoon so as to prevent any damage to the dam, located in Idduki district of Kerala but under the control of Tamil Nadu. However, the Kerala government had been preventing Tamil Nadu officials from closing these drilled holes, in spite of the clear directions given by the Empowered Committee,” she said in the letter.
Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been fighting over the raising of water level of the Dam from the present 132 ft to the 142 ft. While Kerala argues that the Dam does not have strength to hold 142 ft water, the Empowered Committee has given the go ahead to increase the water level to 142 ft after closing the holes drilled to test the structural stability of the dam. The Mullaperiyar Dam is the lifeline of five southern districts in Tamil Nadu.
Jayalalithaa said that the Kerala government's attempt to prevent closing of the holes appeared to be a ploy intended to ensure that dam's structural stability was weakened, especially in the light of the Empowered Committee's conclusion that the dam was safe and water level could be raised to 142 ft.
"This attitude of the Government of Kerala is reprehensible and needs to be set right," she said reminding Singh of her plea made last year for deployment of the Central Industrial Security Force to safeguard the dam.
"I, therefore, request you to advise the Government of Kerala not to prevent the officials of Tamil Nadu from carrying out the essential work of closing the drilled holes on the Mullai Periyar Dam," Jayalalithaa said in the letter.
“Further, if the Government of Kerala persists with this recalcitrant attitude and if the Government of India does not respond to my request for the deployment of the CISF, the Government of Tamil Nadu will have no option but to deploy its own Police Force to guard the Mullaiperiyar Dam in the area leased out to Tamil Nadu," Jayalalithaa said.
But Kerala government officials said the letter is unlikely to evoke any response from the Prime Minister’s Office. “Law and Order is a State subject. The Supreme Court itself has rejected the demand by the Tamil Nadu government for the deployment of Central forces in the Mullaperiyar Dam,” a top Kerala Home Department official told this newspaper.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}