Chennai:
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday, asking him to withdraw plan to draw contingency response for the Mullaperiyar dam. She has written that the Supreme Court in 2006 had decided that the dam is safe and the issue is unwarranted when matter is pending before the Supreme Court and the empowered committee.
In her letter, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister has alleged that the Kerala government is attempting to pressure the empowered committee to declare dam 'unsafe'.
The Supreme Court-appointed empowered committee is scheduled to submit its report on the dam in February, 2012.
Vaiko detained
MDMK chief Vaiko was detained today while trying to enforce an economic blockade of Kerala by Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar dam dispute.
Cadres of the MDMK and a few other outfits had planned to block all roads leading to Kerala in Tamil Nadu's border districts of Theni, Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and the Nilgiris. Vaiko was detained while leading the protest in Theni.
While the water from the Mullaperiyar dam irrigates the drought-prone southern districts of Tamil Nadu, Kerala is dependent on Tamil Nadu for a huge supply of milk, vegetables and meat, among others.
The message from these political parties of Tamil Nadu is clear - The Mullaperiyar issue could snowball into an economic crisis for the neighbouring state.
Last week, clashes between groups from the two states prompted Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to write to his Tamil Nadu counterpart Jayalalithaa, asking her "to take firm action to contain the situation."
The dam is located in Kerala's Idukki district but its operations are controlled by Tamil Nadu under a decades-old agreement. Kerala says that the 116-year-old dam is weak, endangering millions of lives. It wants the dam to be razed and reconstructed. It has offered to pay for the reconstruction and has promised that Tamil Nadu would continue to receive the same amount of water from a new dam.
Tamil Nadu says the dam has been strengthened and that it is as good as new. It accuses Kerala of whipping up fear among the people in an attempt to curtail Tamil Nadu's share of water.
The matter is being heard by the Supreme Court, which has appointed a committee of experts to look into the safety aspects of the dam.