The president of the Idukki panchayat in Kerala on Friday sought the intervention of President Pratibha Patil for setting up an inter-State Council to resolve the Mullaperiyar dam dispute between his State and Tamil Nadu.
In a representation submitted to the President through lawyer Wills Mathews, panchayat president Alex Kozhimala said: “In case of an unfortunate event of the Mullaperiyar dam bursting, the immediate and most affected people will be the residents of Idukki District.”
He said that in Idukki, both Malayalam and Tamil-speaking people were living in harmony and they wanted a long-term solution acceptable to both the States.
The representation said though people were waiting for an immediate decision of the competent authorities, “unfortunately the problem remains as it is and people are living in great fear and the issue is seriously affecting the law and order situation and economy of the district.”
“The people of Kerala depend on the people of Tamil Nadu and the people of Tamil Nadu depend on the people of Kerala for various requirements such as water, labour, fruits, vegetables, and other essentials and, for all reasons, people want a solution acceptable to both the States.”
The representation said, “Presently, a situation has risen where the entire cardamom crops have failed due to absence of workers for harvesting and, Idduki, which is otherwise a tourist location, is filled with a hostile atmosphere, seriously affecting the people of the district.”
“Most shops are closed and people are living in great fear of collapse of dam on the one hand and of aggravating law and order issues on the other despite harmony at the grass roots level.”
The representation said a permanent remedy was possible through discussions/mediation. “We are approaching Your Excellency for an immediate relief as delay in taking appropriate action by the competent authorities can have disastrous effect on the normal life of the people. Further, there are limitations for the other constitutional functionaries to take an effective decision and even if taken to implement it successfully in letter and spirit.”
Till a permanent solution was found, it wanted a direction to be issued to the authority controlling the dam to reduce the water level from the present 136 feet to any reasonable level acceptable to the States. It wanted the President to constitute an inter-State Council to settle issues in the best interest of the people of India. It demanded that representatives of both States be called to focus on both the water requirement of Tamil Nadu and the safety requirement of Kerala.
