Mullaperiyar feud heats up, Kerala CM to meet PM

Seeking urgent initiative by the Centre on the vexed Mullaperiyar dam issue, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday and stress on the importance of holding early talks between the state and Tamil Nadu to defuse the crisis.

Chandy will leave for New Delhi on Thursday afternoon to meet the prime minister.

A special meeting of the state cabinet late on Wednesday night decided to convene an urgent one-day sitting of the assembly on December 9 to discuss the issue and adopt a resolution reinforcing the state's proposal for building a new dam in place of the 116-year-old structure, which posed a grim threat to over 30 lakh people in the downstream districts.

Exuding confidence that his Delhi trip would be fruitful, Chandy told reporters that even Tamil Nadu appeared to have understood the anxiety of Kerala, whose slogan on the issue was "water to Tamil Nadu and safety to Kerala."

According to government sources, apart from reiterating the state's stand that a new dam was the only lasting solution to the long-pending dispute, the chief minister was expected to take up immediate measures like lowering the water level of the reservoir to 120 feet.

With the dam's catchment areas receiving heavy rains in the last few days, its water level on Thursday morning touched 136.5 feet, slightly above the maximum permissible storage level of 136 feet.

Kerala has for long been pressing that the maximum water level should be further reduced since the dam is in a precarious condition. Tamil Nadu has refused to buy that argument.

Meanwhile, the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam has threatened to stop all vehicles going to Kerala at Tiruchirapalli on December 21 as part of its protest against the Kerala government's demand for construction of new dam at Mullaiperiyar.

MDMK chief Vaiko said the Kerala government and political parties in that state were determined to demolish the present Mullaiperiyar dam, which provides water to southern districts of Tamil Nadu.

"We in Tamil Nadu are exercising extraordinary patience, but this should not construed that we are tolerating every thing. We have to assert our right in the dam," he said in a statement.

Vaiko said he would be undertaking a fast on December 8 along with the farmers at Cumbam in Theni district to protest against Kerala's demand for a new dam.