Centre stalls construction of Siruvani dam in Kerala

The Central government has stopped the Kerala government from going ahead with the construction of the proposed dam across Siruvani river for the Attappady Valley Irrigation Project until it gets a consent from the Tamil Nadu government.

"The matter has been examined in the Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change, and it has been decided to keep the recommendations made by the Expert Appraisal Committee, in abeyance, till the references filed in the Supreme Court against the order of Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal are settled or we get a positive consent for the ensuing project from the Government of Tamil Nadu," a communication from the Centre to the Tamil Nadu government said.

Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has taken up this issue time and again with the Centre since 2012.

Jayalalithaa has said Kerala's proposal to construct a dam across the Siruvani river for the Attapadi Irrigation Scheme is in violation of the final order of the Cauvery Tribunal and urged the Centre to advice Kerala not to proceed.

In her latest letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 26, she requested him to withdraw the recommendations made by the Expert Appraisal Committee for the river valley and hydroelectric projects of the Ministry of Environment, in its meeting held on August 11 and 12 for grant of Standard Terms of Reference for conducting an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study on the proposal of the Kerala government.

She also pointed out that the committee had decided to recommend this without obtaining the necessary comments of the Tamil Nadu government in contravention of its own decision in the meeting held on March 28 and 29.