Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Saturday criticised DMK president M. Karunanidhi for raising the issue of inter-linking of rivers after “remaining silent” while being part of the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance government at the Centre.
In a rejoinder to Mr. Karunanidhi’s statement, she said it was strange for the DMK leader to rake up the issue now as he did not respond to Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s statement, made some years ago, that the inter-linking of rivers was not feasible. At that time, she said, Mr. Karunanidhi was in power in the State, and his party formed part of the UPA government.
Giving an account of the case stemming from a public interest litigation petition in the Supreme Court, Ms. Jayalalithaa said that though the court ordered in February 2012 that a special committee be constituted to inter-link rivers, the UPA government took one year to set up the committee; but it did not meet even once.
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The Chief Minister recalled how she had, in a memorandum given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi early this month, demanded funds for projects for inter-linking of rivers, and for the first phase of the Rs. 11,421-crore modernisation of the Cauvery basin. She had also impressed upon Mr. Modi the need for steps to link the Mahanadi, Godavari, Krishna, Pennar, Palar, Cauvery and Gundar rivers and the Pamba, Achankovil and Vaippar rivers.
As for the inclusion of dams in the national register of large dams complied by the Central Water Commission (CWC), Ms. Jayalalithaa said it was done on the basis of the geographical location of dams.
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Quoting a communiqué from the CWC’s Dam Safety Monitoring Panel to the State government last month, she said it clarified that no rights could be claimed merely on the basis of the information, and if any error on the list was pointed out, it would be corrected.
She said that at Tamil Nadu’s insistence, it was mentioned in the note to the section of the Tamil Nadu dams in the national register, prepared in 2013, that the dams of Mullaperiyar, Parambikulam, Peruvaripallam and Tunacadavu, located in Kerala, were being operated and maintained by the Public Works Department of Tamil Nadu. At a meeting of the National Dam Safety Committee in December 2013, the State pressed for the inclusion in the register of the words, “these dams are owned by Tamil Nadu.” The committee accepted the demand and decided that after receiving similar demands from other States, the words would be included.
As for the Cauvery Management Board, Ms. Jayalalithaa referred to her 31-page letter to the Prime Minister and hoped the Centre would form the Board.
Regarding the Mullaperiyar dam issue, she said that after the supervisory panel was set up, the water level would be increased to 142 feet.