Mullaperiyar: Protests mount, panic grips people, PM steps in
As political parties and voluntary groups in Kerala intensified protests on Mullaperiyar Dam issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh stepped in on Tuesday and met four delegations from Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
The Congress and the DMK delegations from Tamil Nadu, which met Singh separately, accused political parties in Kerala of misleading people on safety of Mullaperiyar Dam and called their actions "false propaganda".
The Kerala high court on Tuesday asked the state government to inform it about the safety measures taken anticipating threat to the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam. The direction was issued on a petition by advocate Rajamannar seeking for a direction to Idukki district collector to take immediate steps for draining water from the dam and three other nearby dams on a war footing.
Political parties and voluntary groups in Kerala today continued protests and lobbied for a new dam at Mullaperiyar amid indications that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh would convene a meeting of chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to find an amicable solution to the vexed issue. Normal life was disrupted in four vulnerable districts, including Idukki, where the 116-year-old dam is located, as BJP and Kerala Congress(M) separately called for a dawn-to- dusk hartal.
The district administration assured that there was no reason to panic but opened control rooms to monitor the situation and help people in case of emergency.
Kerala has escalated the demand for construction of a new dam at Mullaperiyar holding that the present structure posed a grim threat to nearly 3 million people, mainly in Idukki, Kottayam and Ernakulam districts.
Both the ruling Congress-led UDF and the opposition LDF have also sought urgent Central intervention to resolve the tiff between the two States by persuading Tamil Nadu to agree to the idea of a new dam.
Congress leaders led by state party chief Ramesh Chennithala submitted a memorandum to Governor M O H Farook highlighting the need for a new dam and to restrict the water level to 120 feet. An LDF delegation led by Opposition Leader V S Achuthanandan will visit Mullaperiyar tomorrow.
State Congress chief Ramesh Chennithala urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and AICC president Sonia Gandhi to immediately intervene in the issue holding that lives of three million people were at stake.
Meanwhile, at Vandiperiyar, the Janakiya Samithy blocked the national highway against the Tamil Nadu stand on opposing the new dam. The protesters burnt the effigy of the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa.
More than 2000 people participated in the protest march. The local people said that they believed in no political party and will continue fight till a new dam is built at Mullaperiyar.
The Catholicos of the Indian Orthodox church urged the government to intervene in the matter and demanded to decrease the water level from 136 feet to 120 feet as the first step for safety.
Superstar Suresh Gopi said on Saturday that AMMA, the organisation of actors, would conduct agitations including a hunger stir if the judiciary and politicians fail to resolve the Mullaperiyar dam issue.
