The Hindu Business Line : Kerala for consensus on Mullaperiyar, says CM

The Chief Minister, Mr V.S. Achuthanandan, has said that Kerala will try to strike up a consensus with Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar issue, but without sacrificing its own interests.

The Chief Minister said this while addressing an all-party meeting convened to discuss what he described as a `precarious situation' where unrelenting rain over the past few days had caused the Mullaperiyar reservoir level to breach the maximum permissible 136 ft.

Kerala has held that the 110-year-old dam is not strong enough to hold anything more than this, an argument that has not found favour with the neighbouring Tamil Nadu. Waters from Mullaperiyar irrigate large tracts of arid land on the other side of the bordering highlands.

The Chief Minister told the meeting that the life and property of an estimated 35 lakh people in the downstream areas of the dam was now in danger.

The meeting had aired the view that steps needed to be initiated to meet with any emergency, in line with the provisions contained in the Disaster Management Act. He reiterated that the State was not averse to supplying water to Tamil Nadu. He said that the all-party meeting suggested that a new dam be built in order to protect the life and property of lakhs of people.

The State Government will consider these suggestions and take an appropriate decision after the views of the Tamil Nadu Government were known.

Mr Achuthanandan is scheduled to meet with his counterpart, Mr M. Karunanidhi, soon, to discuss the Mullaperiyar issue.

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