New Delhi, Dec 16 (Inditop.com) Kerala MP Jose K. Mani met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh Wednesday and demanded his “immediate intervention” to help Kerala and Tamil Nadu reach a consensus on the Mullaperiyar dam dispute.
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 after hearing it since 2006.
After meeting the prime minister in Parliament House, Mani said that new leakages have been identified in the dam.
“After the issue has been referred to the constitution bench, new leakages which are of dangerous nature have been identified at various spots in the old dam.”
“Leakage is found even at 132-foot water level in the dam, which is alarming in the changed circumstance. We cannot wait till the decision of the constitution bench,” Jose, who is the lone MP of the Kerala Congress-Mani (KC-M), told IANS.
The KC-M is part of the Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) in Kerala.
While Kerala wants decommissioning of the dam in its Idukki district 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 as the dam, despite being in Kerala, is controlled by it.
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 further obtained environmental clearance from the central environment ministry for constructing a new dam after demolishing the existing one. Tamil Nadu then approached the apex court, challenging the Kerala law and its move to demolish the dam.
Mani said construction work should begin for the new dam.
“The construction of the new dam has to be started immediately,” he said.
“If the Mullaperiyar dam happens to break, this will endanger the lives of 40 lakh people in Kottayam, Idukki, Ernakulam, Pathanamthitta and Alappuzha districts in Kerala,” he said.
“So we request the prime minister to intervene in this matter immediately,” said Mani, who represents the Kottayam parliamentary constituency.
