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Neyyar not an inter-State river, says Premachandran

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran said here on Friday that Kerala would not accept Tamil Nadu’s contention that the Neyyar was an inter-State river.

Alleging that Tamil Nadu was politicising the issue, the Minister said the objective of the Tamil Nadu government was not to get water from the Neyyar, but to turn it into an inter-State issue.

He said Kerala was willing to provide water, but what Tamil Nadu wanted was to establish rights over the Neyyar.

Mr. Premachandran said Tamil Nadu’s claim over the Neyyar was meaningless. Tamil Nadu had not claimed that the Neyyar was an inter-State river either at the time of the reorganisation of States or later.

Tamil Nadu had made no such claim in a draft agreement prepared by it and sent to Kerala in 1971. Besides, Tamil Nadu Public Works Minister Durai Murugan had admitted in a letter dated September 8, 2000 to the then Kerala Minister for Irrigation and Labour that the Neyyar was not an inter-State river.

This had been reiterated in the letter dated June 12, 2001 from the then Minister in the AIADMK government N. Thalavai Sundaram.

He recalled that the Kerala government had sent a draft agreement to Tamil Nadu in June this year based on a resolution adopted by the Kerala Assembly for supply of water. However, Tamil Nadu sent back an alternative agreement four months later claiming that the Neyyar was an inter-State river and an agreement similar to the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project agreement was needed. This was not acceptable to Kerala.

Noting that the controversy over supply of water from the Neyyar was unfortunate, the Minister said the Tamil Nadu government was responsible for creating insecurity among the people of Tamil Nadu by raising baseless claims.

Presenting copies of the draft agreement proposed by Kerala, the Minister refuted the charge that Kerala had sought payment for water.

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