Southern States - Tamil Nadu

Mullaperiyar: T.N., Kerala to seek early SC verdict

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI JUNE 10. The PWD and Irrigation Ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, O. Paneerselvam and T.M. Jacob, met here today and discussed crucial riparian matters, including the vexed Mullaperiyar dam issue.

Emerging after a one-and-a-half-hour meeting, Mr. Paneerselvam told the media that the two States had agreed to press the Supreme Court to give an expeditious verdict on the dam issue.

While Tamil Nadu wants the storage level of Mullaperiyar dam located on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border to be raised, the Kerala Government is stoutly opposing the move on the ground that ``it is unsafe''.

The Kerala Minister said that the Mullaperiyar issue did not come up for detailed discussion during the meeting as the matter was before the court. On the Parambikulam-Aliyar project, the two States decided to await the report of the six-member technical committee. The Chief Ministers and Irrigation Ministers of the two States would meet to discuss the dam issue after the report was obtained, Mr. Paneerselvam said.

Sources said both the States agreed that the review of the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) should not go on endlessly but should be completed within a timeframe. This was why the panel had been given three months to prepare the report.

The committee would have three each from Tamil Nadu and Kerala, and every State would nominate two persons from the Irrigation Department and one from the Electricity Board.

At today's meeting, the two sides also discussed the review of the agreement of the Parmabikulam-Aliyar project, maintaining reservoir levels at Sholayar, taking up the Anamalayar project and the balancing reservoir at Manacadavu.

The other projects that came up for review include Pandiya-Punnampuzha scheme, Cholathipuzha project, Pamba-Achankovil-Vaippar link, Shenbagavalli anicut and Neyyar irrigation scheme.

The two States also discussed the possibility of undertaking a joint survey for Chittar-Pattinamakal scheme and a survey for Giriyar irrigation-cum-hydro electric scheme besides the Moolathar regulator submersion, and construction of a single lane bride across the Aliyar and another at Ellapallam. In all, 30 officials from Kerala and Tamil Nadu took part in the meeting at the Secretariat.

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