Date:26/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/26/stories/2008112659760800.htm

New Delhi

Apex court seeks response from Centre, Kerala

J. Venkatesan

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the response of the Centre and the Kerala government on an application filed by Tamil Nadu seeking a direction for implementation of the Pampa-Achencoil-Vaipar (PAV) link project identified by the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) as a feasible one.

A three-judge Bench of Chief Justice K.G. Balakrishnan, Justice P. Sathasivam and Justice J.M. Panchal issued notice after hearing Tamil Nadu counsel G. Umpathy who wanted the Centre to file a status report on the project.

The application said that Tamil Nadu had been pressing the Kerala government and the Centre for implementation of the PAV link project under the Peninsular Rivers Development. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, in a letter dated September 5, 2006, had sought personal intervention of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to get Kerala’s concurrence to the project which would be beneficial for both States.

The next day, Mr. Karunanidhi wrote another letter to the Prime Minister emphasising the need for diverting the surplus water in the Mahanadi and Godavari river basins down south to augment the river basins of Krishna, Pennar, Cauvery and other rivers since the NWDA had completed feasibility studies on the links in the chain and listed the benefits that would accrue.

Again in June 2007, Mr. Karunanidhi urged the Prime Minister to take up the link projects and said “the year 2007 being ‘water year,’ it would be a landmark achievement if the Peninsular River Development programme is commenced in this year.” The application said that the Union Ministry for Water Resources informed Tamil Nadu that the Kerala Assembly had passed a resolution urging the Centre to give up the PAV link project completely and as a result the Centre decided not to treat the project for consensus building purpose at present.

Tamil Nadu said “inter-linking of rivers of the southern peninsula is of utmost importance since these rivers are essentially rain-fed rivers and there is a need to conserve surplus water during the monsoon season so as to enable to divert to areas which are water-starved. Inter-linking of southern peninsular component would not only augment the availability of water in the southern States but also would ensure increase in production of hydel power and accelerate agricultural growth in the country.”