The Coordination Committee of All Farmers’ Associations in Tamil Nadu has urged the State government not to heed to the request from the Kerala Chief Minister requesting release of water from Mullaperiyar dam citing the climatic conditions in that State.
Talking to reporters at Mannargudi on Monday, committee president P. R. Pandian termed the letter from the Kerala Chief Minister to his counterpart in Tamil Nadu as nothing but an act induced by the political pressure the Kerala government had been subjected to in view of the recent Supreme Court judgement with regard to maintaining the water level in the dam.
The Apex Court had accepted the statement filed by the Union government that there would not be any harm to the dam structure if 142 feet of water was to be stored in Mullaperiyar dam and dismissed the Kerala government’s contention over the stability of the dam.
Such being the case, insisting or even making a plea that the storage in Mullaperiyar dam should be maintained at 136 feet would directly affect the prospects of farmers in Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Sivagangai districts who were finding it difficult to raise even one crop in a year due to the issue.
Exhorting the State to safeguard the interests of Tamil Nadu farmers who depend on the water from Mullaperiyar dam for irrigation, Mr. Pandian urged Chief Minister M. K. Stalin to clarify the situation faced by the farmers here and put an end to the issue firmly.
The State government should also initiate necessary steps to ensure that the Tamil Nadu engineers can carry out their duties at Mullaperiyar dam without any obstacles and also strengthen the Baby Dam, he added.
