Refuting Chief Minister Jayalalithaa’s allegation that he had failed to secure Tamil Nadu’s rights over the Mullaperiyar dam and supported the ordinance enacted by the Kerala government to nullify the Supreme Court’s order, DMK president M. Karunanidhi said on Thursday that it was during the DMK regime that the court permitted increasing the water level.
In a statement here, he said that though Tamil Nadu and Kerala had filed separate petitions in the Supreme Court, the DMK government moved a petition in 1998 for hearing the petitions together, and it was on the basis of the petition that the court granted permission to raise the level to 142 feet. It also agreed to increase the level to 152 feet after strengthening the dam, he said.
“The Chief Minister had suppressed this fact,” he said, urging her to take steps to get water for the farmers in the southern districts instead of issuing such statements.