Kerala Water Resources Minister N K Premachandran on Tuesday took exception to Union Minister of State for Water Resources Jai Prakash Narayan Yadav's remark that the Mullaperiyar dam was "owned and operated by Tamil Nadu."
Addressing a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram, Premachandran said the minister's reply to a question from two Kerala MPs in Parliament that the dam was owned and operated by Tamil Nadu was not "fully correct."
The dam was situated on the land leased to Tamil Nadu by Kerala. The lease was for a period of 999 years and so the word "owned" was not correct, he said.
The MPs, Suresh Kurup and P Karunakaran, who raised the question, would be asked to seek a clarification in the matter.
"A correction from the Centre on the issue is needed. I do not think the reply was deliberate," he said to a question adding, the remark would not in any way affect Kerala's position in the Mullaperiyar dam case pending before the Supreme Court.
The Kerala Dam Safety Authority had also pointed out that the dam structure was not in good condition.
The authority chairman and members, who visited the dam site, had also stated that there was a crack in the lower part of the dam, where the water level was 109 feet now, he said.
A dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over raising the dam's storage level is pending before the apex court with Kerala maintaining that the level should not be raised above the permissible 136 feet considering the safety aspect of the 110-year-old dam while Tamil Nadu wants to raise it to 142 feet.
