Minister for Water Resources N.K. Premachandran said here on Thursday that the Kerala government viewed the visit of some persons, who claimed to be commandos of the National Security Guard (NSG), to the Mullaperiyar Dam with concern.
The Minister told the media that if personnel from any national agency were visiting the dam, they should have informed the Kerala government also. The Home Department had been asked to enquire about the identity of the visitors who had told Kerala officials that they belonged to the NSG. However, Kerala had received no official information about the visit of the personnel who had been accompanied by officials of the Tamil Nadu Irrigation Department. They had inspected the dam and galleries, according to intelligence reports.
Mr. Premachandran said that Kerala had no objection to any official agency inspecting the condition of the dam. However, as per norms, the State government should have been informed.
He said the government was considering the induction of V. Giri, who recently resigned as judge of Kerala High Court to take up practice in the Supreme Court, into the team of lawyers representing Kerala in the Mullaperiyar case before the Supreme Court.
He said that a Cabinet sub-committee had finalised a plan to improve the availability of sand in the State on the basis of the Cabinet decision on Wednesday. The plan included desilting of Aruvikkara (Thiruvananthapuram district), Poomala (Thrissur district) and other dams to recover sand.
