A delegation of Kerala MPs, cutting across party lines, on Friday called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and sought his intervention in the controversial issue of the Mullaperiyar dam between Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
The MPs highlighted their concerns over the safety of the 116-year-old dam and urged Dr. Singh to convene a meeting of Chief Ministers of the two States at the earliest to find an amicable solution to the issue.
In a memorandum, the MPs requested him to persuade Tamil Nadu to accept the proposal of Kerala to construct a new dam downstream of the present dam without in any way affecting the quantum of water supplied to Tamil Nadu.
Assuranceto MPs
The Prime Minister reportedly assured the MPs that he would take necessary action, appealing, at the same time, that neither State should take up any public campaign on the issue since each State was home to a large number of persons from the other State.
The MPs told Dr. Singh that their State had nothing to do with the Hollywood film, Dam999 , which has been banned in Tamil Nadu on the grounds that its title was a reference to the Mullaperiyar dam.
The film, produced by mariner-turned film director Sohan Roy, who hails from Kerala, is about a dam that collapsed in China in 1975, resulting in a large number of deaths.
