Kerala to seek PM intervention on Mullaperiyar issue

16 June : Kerala government will seek Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to resolve the Mullaperiyar reservoir dispute with Tamil Nadu.This comes in the light of an expert committee warning that the safety of the 100-year-old dam was under threat.

Giving details of the Committee's findings at a press meet in Thiruvananthapuram on Monday, State Water Resources Minister N K Premachandran said Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan would write to the PM, seeking his intervention, considering the gravity of the situation.

He said the committee has suggested that construction of a new dam would be a permanent solution to the problem.The state government was awaiting the final verdict of the Supreme Court in the case to proceed further on construction, he said, adding that work on the design and other details was on.

The committee found that there were a number of openings created due to large-scale peeling of plaster and that water seepage through these cavities had increased, he said.It also pointed out that the equipment installed by the Tamil Nadu government to measure the uplift pressure did not yield expected results, he said.

Water storage level in Mullaperiyar reservoir, located in Kerala's Idduki District and maintained by Tamil Nadu, has been a matter of dispute between the two states.While Kerala wants to maintain the water level at 136 feet considering the safety of the dam, Tamil Nadu has been insisting on raising the water level to 142 feet.

Tamil Nadu is opposed to the construction of the new dam.

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By :  News Team