The 89th meeting of the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) Joint Water Regulation Board held here on Friday went off smoothly. Addressing a joint press conference after the meeting, the Chief Engineer (Irrigation), Kerala P. Lathika who heads the Board and the Chief Engineer (Irrigation), PWD, Coimbatore G. Panchanathan said that the members had no differences.
Stating that they had decided to go by the agreement which had come into force in 1958, they said that it pertained to the sharing of the water of the rivers, Anamalayar, Sholayar, Parambikulam and Aliyar during the water year 2010-2011.
As per the agreement Tamil Nadu get 30.5 tmcft to irrigate about 4.25 lakh acres and Kerala, around 19.5 tmcft to take care of 55,000 acres.
To a question, they said that the outstanding issue relating to the shortfall in supply amounting to 2.5 tmcft of water during 2007-2008 from the Parambikulam group of reservoirs to Kerala also figured in the discussions. Since a part of the shortfall had been made up, the assurance on making good the balance in a phased manner was accepted by Kerala.
The meeting also went into the usage of PAP water during the previous year.
In keeping with the PAP's reputation of being a symbol of inter-state cooperation, the view points of the two sides were put forth in a cordial manner.
The 90th meeting will be hosted by Kerala after six months.
Among those who participated were the Chief Engineer Kerala State Electricity Board Annamma John and Superintending Engineer, Parambikulam-Aliyar Basin Circle K. Ranganathan.
