New Delhi, Dec 18 (Inditop.com) Union Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal Friday said he would try to bring together the chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to find an amicable solution to the Mullaperiyar dam issue.
“I will try to bring the two chief ministers together to solve it in an amicable manner,” Bansal told IANS outside parliament when asked on the steps the ministry has taken to solve the dam issue between the two states.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads over the dam built under an agreement signed in 1886 between the then Maharaja of Travancore and the British administration.
The Supreme Court recently transferred the Mullaperiyar dam case to a five-member constitution bench.
“The MPs from Kerala say the dam is unsafe and the Tamil Nadu MPs say the dam is safe,” the minister said.
Bansal said he was trying to work out “something feasible” to solve the issue.
While Kerala wants the dam in Idukki district to be replaced with a new one on the ground that it has exceeded its life-span and would pose a threat to lives of millions of people in the state if it collapsed, Tamil Nadu is opposed to any such move. The dam, despite being in Kerala, is controlled by Tamil Nadu.
In 2007, the apex court had allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the water level in the dam from 136 feet to 142 feet.
Kerala, however, subsequently enacted a law, negating the Supreme Court judgment and restraining Tamil Nadu from raising the water level beyond 136 feet.
It also obtained environmental clearance from the environment ministry for construction of a new dam.
Tamil Nadu then approached the apex court, challenging the Kerala law and its move to demolish the dam.
