Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan and his Tamil Nadu counterpart M Karunanidhi will hold talks against the backdrop of the recent spat between them following rising of the water level above the danger mark.
In this interview with Rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, Prof Janakarajan speaks about the win-win situation for both Tamil Nadu and Kerala while strongly maintaining that a new dam will be an environmental disaster.
Member of the Supreme Court-appointed empowered committee on Mullaperiyar Dam, Justice K T Thomas on Thursday said it was unfortunate that some quarters had sought to politicise and whip up emotions on the panel's report, instead of looking at it rationally.
Thiruvanchur Radhakrishnan, revenue minister in the United Democratic Front cabinet in Kerala, has been in the midst of the Mullaperiyar dam row. Radhakrishnan was serving as the irrigation minister when he met and negotiated with O Paneerselvam, the representative of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa. In an interview with rediff.com's Shobha Warrier, minutes after holding an emergency meeting in Thiruvavananthapuram, Radhakrishnan talks about the escalating feud.
In the wake of the Supreme Court rejecting Kerala's contention in the dispute with Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar dam, the state on Monday sought Centre's mediation and a presidential reference to the apex court to address its anxiety over the issue.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Sunday asked Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to order deployment of Central Industrial Security Forces at Mullaperiyar dam site "to avoid any man-made catastrophic consequences" in view of violent activities reported there.
The Supreme Court on Thursday said the Prime Minister was the "most suitable authority" to hammer out a solution to vexed water disputes like Mullaperiyar dam row and wanted to appeal for his intervention but refrained from doing so after Tamil Nadu objected to it.
A one-day special assembly session convened in the midst of the heightened tensions between the two states on the dam issue passed the resolution reasserting the state's right over the 116-year old dam which Kerala wants to be demolished to build a new one on safety concernsA resolution moved by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa said that 'Tamil Nadu cannot lose its rights over false propaganda by Kerala' on the safety of the century-old reservoir.
The Mullaperiyar Dam issue generated heat in Parliament on Wednesday with members from Tamil Nadu and Kerala clashing in both Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha.
Members from Kerala and Tamil Nadu clashed in the Rajya Sabha over the Mullaperiyar Dam controversy, seeking Centre's intervention in resolving the contentious issue.
Seeking urgent initiative by the Centre on the vexed Mullaperiyar dam issue, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday and stress on the importance of holding early talks between the state and Tamil Nadu to defuse the crisis.Chandy will leave for New Delhi on Thursday afternoon to meet the prime minister. A special meeting of the state cabinet late on Wednesday night decided to convene an urgent one-day sitting of the assembly.
Stepping up their campaign on the Mullaperiyar issue, Union Ministers from Kerala on Monday met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, seeking his intervention in ensuring the saftey of the 116-year-old dam. Union Ministers Vayalar Ravi, K V Thomas, K C Venugopal,Mullapally Ramachandran and E Ahamed met Dr Singh with a demand to rein in Tamil Nadu's insistence on increasing the water level in the reservoir for enhancing water supply to the state.
The Kerala government on Thursday affirmed its commitment to build a new dam at Mullaperiyar in place of the 116-year old structure, saying its resolve to do so is based on the principle of 'water for Tamil Nadu and safety for Kerala'. Governor H R Bhardwaj, in his address to the legislative assembly to mark the start of the budget session, made the comments.
The police on Tuesday lathicharged hundreds of people at the state border town of Gudalur when they forcibly tried to enter Kerala, demanding adequate protection to the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam, over which both Tamil Nadu and Kerala are locked in a row. According to the police, the crowd pelted stones at them and tried to force their way past a security cordon and go across to Kerala, prompting them to use batons.
The Kerala high court on Wednesday directed the state government to file a written statement within 48 hours on the disaster management steps being taken anticipating threat to the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam.
'There is no other way but approaching the Supreme Court and the state government should immediately take steps on this'.
The Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee on the Mullaperiyar Dam, over which Tamil Nadu and Kerala are at loggerheads, has concluded that the 119-year-old structure is "safe" and asked the Kerala Government to reconsider its proposal to build a new dam.
A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Friday declined to accept any fresh material other than what has been submitted by the expert panel on the controversial Mullaperiyar Dam row between Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The Tamil Nadu government on Thursday moved the Supreme Court accusing Kerala government of whipping up "fear psychosis" on Mullaperiyar row and sought the court's direction, restraining the state from making any controversial statement on the issue.
With the standoff between Kerala and Tamil Nadu on the Mullaperiyar dam issue escalating, Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday.
Kerala on Friday told the Supreme Court-appointed monitoring committee on Mullaperiyar Dam issue that it was agreeable to formation of an independent committee for regulation of waters if a new dam is built, while Tamil Nadu rejected the move to build a new structure outright.
Stepping in to defuse the crisis, the Centre on Monday invited senior officials from Tamil Nadu and Kerala for discussions on the Mullaperiyar Dam issue even as the Supreme Court-appointed empowered panel decided to send a two-member team to the site for an on-the-spot assessment.
The committee headed by former Chief Justice of India A S Anand is expected to submit its report on the controversial issue by February, 2012.
The Centre on Wednesday appealed to Tamil Nadu and Kerala to amicably settle the issue of Mullaperiyar Dam between them and expressed its willingness to play a role of "facilitator".
Mullaperiyar dam as good as new, Jaya writes to Chandy
Taking strong exception to Kerala's reported "unilateral" action in ordering real time monitoring of Mullaperiyar Dam along with the Centre without Tamil Nadu's consent, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Thursday slammed it as a "blatant violation" of the principle of federalism and constitutional framework.
Tamil Nadu will not permit the Kerala government to construct a dam across the Mullaperiyar dam, Chief Minister M Karunandhi said on Wednesday.
Seeking to calm passions over Mullaperiyar Dam issue, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday wrote to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa saying nothing should be said or done to create "undue alarm" and hoped the issue would be sorted out amicably through dialogue.
Former Kerala chief minister and Communist Party of India-Marxist veteran V S Achutanandan on Tuesday filed a petition in the Kerala high court seeking a direction to build a new dam at Mullaperiyar.
Urging for "sanity and sensitiveness", the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked Tamil Nadu and Kerala to maintain restraint on their statements on the Mullaperiyar dam row, lamenting that they were adding fuel to the fire instead of dousing it.
Voicing Kerala's readiness to walk the extra mile to resolve the Mullaperiyar Dam row, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said he was even willing to enter into a tripartite agreement and enact a law assuring Tamil Nadu that it will get "same quantity" of water from the new dam.
Ernakulam district authorities on Tuesday said 350 cumecs of the water from Idamalayar, which reached Periyar river but there was no considerable rise in the water-level.
'We requested controlled release of water without waiting for the water level in the reservoir to reach its full level.'
Personnel of NDRF, Fire, Forest and police departments have expanded their search operations to the downstream of a river in their efforts to trace 19 more people who were still missing in the August 7 tragedy near Rajamala.
A red alert was declared in 8 districts of Kerala on Thursday by the India Meteorological Department (IMD) as rains continued to lash various parts of the state and disrupted the day-to-day lives of the people as roads got flooded or caved in and many got displaced from their homes to relief camps.
Jantar Mantar, in New Dellhi, is busy readying itself for Sunday, when activist Anna Hazare will go on a token one-day fast to protest against the government's version of the Lokpal Bill.
The heavy rains led to water level in various dams in the state rising to the red alert mark, prompting the government to open one of the shutters of Cheruthoni dam of Idukki reservoir in the afternoon.
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin on Thursday said he has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to provide additional doses of COVID-19 vaccine to the state.
Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has warned about the possibilities of landslides in the hilly areas already hit by extremely heavy rainfall in the past few days and directed people living in the region and government authorities to be vigilant.
If an earthquake causes the dam to collapse, it can threaten the lives of 3.5 million people downstream. The issue needs to be looked at as a national problem, not as a dispute between two states, says Dipu Santh
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances