The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Get dam issue referred to Constitution Bench, says Achuthanandan

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Feb 28, 2006

Kerala

Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Get dam issue referred to Constitution Bench, says Achuthanandan

Special Correspondent

Seeks judicial probe into the way the case was handled

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Leader of the Opposition in Kerala Assembly V.S. Achuthanandan on Monday described the permission given by the Supreme Court to raise the water level in the Mullaperiyar Dam from 136 feet to 142 feet as `unilateral and suicidal' and asked the State Government to take steps to get the case referred to a Constitution Bench of the apex court.

Mr. Achuthanandan told a news conference here that the matter should be referred to a Constitution Bench as the Supreme Court had the duty to protect the interests of Kerala as well as Tamil Nadu.

The Supreme Court verdict, he said, showed that the Kerala Government had failed to present the State's case effectively before the court.

He said T.K. Sasi, Chief Engineer with the Public Works Department (PWD) who had been suspended from service a week ago on graft charges, might have failed to educate the counsel for the State about Kerala's arguments.

Citing the dispute between Mr. Sasi and Mr. Radhakrishnan, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) representative in the inter-State river water panel, over the quantum of water being made available to the State from the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project and the subsequent removal of Mr. Radhakrishnan from the panel, Mr. Achuthanandan said this incident itself was proof of the manner in which the Ministers concerned handled issues relating to inter-State river disputes.

The Opposition leader said there should be a judicial inquiry into how the Government had failed to protect the State's interests and if the persons concerned had surrendered before vested interests.

Kerala had all along taken the position that the water level in the dam should be kept at 136 feet. It had done so on five grounds.

These were: (i) the dam, built 110 years ago, had outlived its safe lifetime by about four decades, (ii) the measures said to have been taken by Tamil Nadu to strengthen the dam has had only temporary utility, (iii) the possibility of the dam collapsing in the event of catastrophes such as an earthquake are quite high, (iv) in the event of the dam collapsing, three major dams downstream--namely, Idukki, Cheruthoni and Kulamavu--would be in danger and (v) any such event would pose a major threat to the life and property of people living in Idukki, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts and to the wild animals in the Periyar Tigar Reserve.

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