Jaya doubtful if Centre would act on Mullaperiyar

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa today said she was not sure if the Congress-led government at the Centre would act on the state's plea seeking appointment of representatives to the Mullaperiyar monitoring panel as per a Supreme Court order.
Reacting to DMK chief Karunanidhi, who asked her to take steps to implement the apex court order on dam issue, Jayalalithaa said her government had been taking action diligently on all issues concerning Tamil Nadu while "nothing was done" during the DMK regime.
The Chief Minister, in a statement, asserted that her government had taken all steps to restore water level to 142 feet in the Mullaperiyar dam and referred to preliminary works in the dam area immediately after the apex court ruling.

A letter was sent to Union Water Resources Ministry Secretary on May 8 itself requesting appointment of representatives by the Centre and Kerala to the apex court appointed committee tasked with supervising restoration of water to 142 feet in the dam, she said.
Chief of Cauvery Technical Cell, R Subramanian was appointed as representative of Tamil Nadu to the SC monitoring committee on May 8 itself, she noted.
Quoting from the apex court judgement which said that work to restore the water level should be done under the supervision of the SC-appointed committee, she said Tamil Nadu cannot act unilaterally.

"It is not known if the present Congress-led dispensation at the Centre will quickly act on TN's letter [seeking appointment of representatives."

Exuding confidence that a regime change will happen "for sure" at the Centre, she said the AIADMK "will be a force to determine the policies of the new dispensation."
Action will be taken to immediately constitute the panel as mandated by the Supreme Court in the new regime, Jayalalithaa said and added that the committee would take steps to implement the ruling and restore water to 142 feet in the dam.
"I urge Karunanidhi to not politicise the Mullaperiyar issue which is the lifeline of farmers of southern districts," she said.

The apex court had held that the dam was safe and allowed the Tamil Nadu Government to raise the water-level to 142 feet and ultimately to 152 feet after completion of strengthening measures on the dam.
Tamil Nadu and Kerala have for long been at loggerheads over the dam safety issue. While Tamil Nadu contended that the dam was safe and its water-level had to be raised, Kerala had maintained that the structure was weak and needed to be replaced.