The DMK chief, Mr M. Karunanidhi, today sought the Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh’s intervention to end attacks on Tamils in Kerala in the wake of the Mullaperiyar dam row and to ensure the neighbouring state abides by the 2006 Supreme Court order to raise storage level from 136 feet to 142 feet.
Mr Karunanidhi submitted a memorandum to Dr Singh, who is on a two-day visit to the State, accusing Kerala of having created a situation where “people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been instigated to fight against each other like people of two different countries.” Alleging that the continued campaign by Kerala had resulted in many ‘undesirable incidents’ creating animosity between the people of the two states, the memorandum said it had forced Tamils living in Kerala to leave that state.
The memorandum also referred to “sentimental outburst” of the affected people of southern districts of Tamil Nadu, whose irrigation needs are met by the Mullaperiyar dam.
It also said the dam issue was before the Supreme Court and any effort by the Kerala government to reduce the water level and attempt to construct a new dam “has to be viewed as an attempt to subvert the judicial process and deny justice to the people of Tamil Nadu.” The memorandum said that even after works of strengthening the dam by the Tamil Nadu Government, Kerala continued to maintain the water level at 136 feet and seeking to reduce it to 120 feet, instead of abiding by the Supreme Court order.
“If the Government of Kerala is persistent on its stand, at least five southern districts of Tamil Nadu will become deserts without water for irrigation,” it said.