Achuthanandan hails apex court ruling on Mullaperiyar dam
By IANSThursday, February 18, 2010
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM - Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan Thursday hailed the Supreme Court ruling asking for a review of the safety of the controversial Mullaperiyar dam.
The apex court has sought a high-level committee to study the safety of the dam, raising its water level beyond 136 feet and examine Kerala’s demand for a new dam.
“We are delighted by this judgment. We will present more facts before the committee as to why we say that the present dam is unsafe,” Achuthanandan told reporters here.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads over the dam built under an agreement signed in 1886 between the then Maharaja of Travancore and the British administration.
While the dam is located in Kerala’s Idukki district, it serves Tamil Nadu. In recent years, Tamil Nadu has demanded that the storage capacity of the dam be raised from 136 feet (41.5 m) to 142 feet (43 m) to meet the increasing demand for irrigation water. Kerala says the dam is unsafe.
