Jayalalithaa vows to raise Periyar dam level to 152 feet

‘Continuous efforts helped the State uphold its rights’

August 23, 2014 01:32 am | Updated April 21, 2016 04:47 am IST - MADURAI:

MADURAI, TAMILNADU, 22/08/2014. : Tamilnadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa being felicitated by functionaries at a public meeting organised by farmers of five southern districts to thank her for State's Victory in the Mullaperiyar Dam issue in Madurai on Friday.-Photo:S_James   

MADURAI, TAMILNADU, 22/08/2014. : Tamilnadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa being felicitated by functionaries at a public meeting organised by farmers of five southern districts to thank her for State's Victory in the Mullaperiyar Dam issue in Madurai on Friday.-Photo:S_James 

Chief Minister Jayalalithaa said on Friday that her government would make all efforts to raise the water level of the Mullaperiyar Dam to its full reservoir level of 152 feet after the residual strengthening works.

Ms. Jayalalithaa was speaking after accepting felicitations at a rally organised here by farmers of five southern districts to thank her for the efforts to raise the level to 142 feet.

She recalled that her government had raised the level by downing the 13 shutters on July 17, 2014. Firm conviction and unrelenting efforts helped in Tamil Nadu upholding its rights over the dam.

“I considered the dam issue as my personal crisis and acted on it (raising the water level) without any delay to improve the farmers’ livelihood. You also gave me full cooperation. This is the secret of the success. This is our victory,” she declared.

Ms. Jayalalithaa said she used to discuss in detail with engineers of the Public Works Department, technocrats and legal experts the State’s stand before every hearing in the Supreme Court when the case was going on.

“Based on the strong arguments put forth by Tamil Nadu, the Supreme Court in 2006 allowed the State to increase the level to 142 feet in the first step,” she said. In May 2014, the court finally allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the level to 142 feet, she pointed out.

Ms. Jayalalithaa accused the Congress-led UPA government and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam of having taken no steps to find solutions to the riparian issues as promised during the 2006 Assembly election campaign.

The “self-centred” policy of the former Chief Minister, M. Karunanidhi, changed the course of the Mullaperiyar dam case in 2006, from raising the water level to 142 feet to the demand from Kerala for building a new dam, she said.

Kerala enacted the Kerala Government Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act by fixing the level at 136 feet, she said.

Though the previous AIADMK government filed an appeal in 2006 to declare legislation null and void, the DMK, which was voted to power in May that year, did not bother about such people’s issues. Mr. Karunanidhi’s attention that time was on the 2G spectrum, she thundered.

When the Centre allowed Kerala to take up a survey for a new dam, Mr. Karunanidhi initially denied it. However, only after her statement, he declared a protest against the then Union Minister for Forests and Environment. “Then, he changed it as a protest meeting against the Kerala government, but only to give it up later,” she alleged.

The DMK general body, which decided that Tamil Nadu need not be represented on the Empowered Committee formed by the Supreme Court to study the safety of the reservoir, changed its stand only after her intervention, she said. It was her government that presented strong, just and legal arguments before the committee, resulting in the Supreme Court allowing Tamil Nadu to raise the level to 142 feet.

Earlier, representatives of farmers from Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts profusely thanked the Chief Minister for Tamil Nadu’s victory on the dam issue and for constructing a memorial for British engineer John Pennycuick who had constructed the dam.

They described her as “living Pennycuick” and vowed to support her “forever.”

Ministers, MPs, MLAs and elected representatives of local bodies took part in the rally.

The Chief Minister, who was earlier accorded a rousing reception at the Madurai airport by the party functionaries, left for Chennai after the meeting by a special flight.

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.