Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has sought the Centre’s intervention to restrain Kerala from proceeding with an environment impact assessment for the construction of a new Mullaperiyar dam in Idukki district of Kerala.
Observing that the move was in utter violation of the Constitution Bench Order of the Supreme Court which held that the dam was “structurally, hydrologically and seismically safe”, Ms. Jayalalithaa said Kerala was “seeking to subvert the Order by stealth.”
“When finality has been reached on the dam issue, the Kerala government is trying to subvert the Supreme Court order by seeking approval of the terms of reference to conduct an EIA for the construction of a new dam,” Ms. Jayalalithaa said in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday.
In response to media reports claiming Kerala had obtained permission for the environment impact assessment, the Ministry of Environment and Forests on June 4 in a press release denied that approval was granted for the EIA.
Noting that the Government of India should have desisted from entertaining and considering Kerala’s proposal and “ought to have remitted the proposal back to the Government of Kerala”, Ms. Jayalalithaa said she looked forward to Mr. Modi’s “immediate positive response in this matter.”
