New Delhi: The water war between Tamil Nadu and Kerala is reaching a flashpoint yet again.
Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan on Thursday alleged that Tamil Nadu was unilaterally dragging the Mullaperiyar issue to the court once again by succumbing to the pressure from opposition parties.
''It is regrettable that Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi was accepting the arguments of Ms Jayalalithaa and Mr Vaiko. Even in Kerala, there are such arguments emerging from certain leaders. But our intention is to settle the issue amicably,'' he told was quoted by news agency PTI as saying.
He pointed out that even at the latest round of talks held between the two states as per the direction of the Supreme Court, there was a consensus for further rounds of discussions to resolve the issue amicably.
The Tamil Nadu government, which had earlier threatened to walk out of talks has maintained that raising the water level in the dam to 142 feet was necessary to provide relief to the drought prone districts in the state.
Even Union Minister for Water Resources Saifuddin Soz, who mediated the talks, had not stated that the discussion was a failure.
However, the Tamil Nadu government had unilaterally changed its stand by deciding to approach the Supreme Court again on the issue.
Achuthanandan also said there was no move to reconsider the decision to give water from Neyyar dam for Tamil Nadu in view of the new development.
Pointing out that the water level in the 111-year-old dam was retained below 136 ft since 1979, he said the dam was situated in an earthquake prone area and in the event of any eventuality, it would affect the lives of 3.5 million people living in five districts.
Comments
0 comment