Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam general secretary Vaiko has urged the Union Environment Ministry to cancel permission it had accorded to Kerala for inspecting the site to build a new dam at Mullaperiyar. In a statement on Friday he said that a team of experts appointed by the Ministry of Environment had decided on Thursday to permit the Kerala government to go ahead with the inspection .
Later, Kerala’s Minister for Water Resources said the Central government had given its consent only in principle. Mr. Vaiko said the decision was a betrayal of trust especially when the Tamil Nadu government had done several inspections to prove the strength of the existing dam and had won its case in the Supreme Court also.
He pointed out that Kerala’s chief engineer in the Irrigation Department had, last month, sent an application to the Central government in which he had mentioned that after the construction of the new dam the old dam built by Pennycuick could be rendered dysfunctional.
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