Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edapadi K. Palaniswami has expressed his government’s willingness to examine the issues raised by Kerala related to the release of Parambikulam-Aliyar waters in view of the drought conditions the State is facing.
Mr. Vijayan had written to his Tamil Nadu counterpart on April 29 inviting him along with a delegation to the State for a first-hand experience on the prevailing situation here and for evolving a time-bound plan of action for renewing the outdated river water sharing agreement.
In his letter, Mr. Vijayan stopped short at pointing an accusing finger at Tamil Nadu for violating the terms of the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) agreement. Kerala had always adopted a humanitarian approach towards Tamil Nadu with regard to its water needs, he said, pointing out how Kerala had released water from the dead storage level of the Siruvani dam to enable Coimbatore city to meet its water needs.
However, the persistent violation of the PAP agreement was a cause of concern in the context of the drought conditions that the State was facing. The Chief Minister said in the previous water year (2016-17) that the areas serviced by the Chitturpuzha received only 3,762 mcft water as against the entitled 6,350 mcft. He drew the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s attention to the water stored in the Kadambar dam in the high reaches of Aliyar and the failure to release the promised share as agreed at the Secretary-level meeting in January.
The official statement issued here announcing the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister’s reply was not clear about whether he had accepted Mr. Vijayan’s invitation to lead a delegation to the State. The statement merely said the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister had said that issues raised by Kerala on the PAP waters would be examined.
