Chennai:
In a new twist to the ongoing row over the Mullaperiyar dam, former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK leader M Karunanidhi today demanded that the structure and its catchment areas be made a part of the state.
The 116-year-old dam is located in Kerala's Idukki district but is controlled by Tamil Nadu which uses its waters to irrigate its southern districts under a decades-old agreement.
Maintaining that these areas were wrongly annexed to the State of Travancore, now a part of Kerala, by the British, Mr Karunanidhi said that the Peermedu and Devikulam areas in Idukki district should be given to Tamil Nadu. The DMK leader also blamed the wrong approach during reorganisation of states along linguistic lines for the peculiar situation it had created in the case of the dam.
Citing safety concerns, Kerala wants the dam to be razed so that a new structure can be constructed. Tamil Nadu has been resisting this demand, apprehensive that this was a ploy to wrest control over the dam.
Kerala has also been asking for the water level to be reduced, arguing that this was essential to ensure safety since the dam falls in a quake-prone region. Tamil Nadu maintains the dam is safe and that the structure has been periodically strengthened.
Mr Karunanidhi accused Kerala of not honouring a 2006 Supreme Court order which had directed the water level at the dam to be increased to 142 feet from the existing 136 feet. After the order, Kerala had enacted a law which no longer made it obligatory for the state to raise the water level.
The dispute between the two states is being heard by the Supreme Court, which has appointed an Empowered Committee to go into the safety aspects of the dam and submit a report.