Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Thursday hit out at the Prime Minister for being silent on the Mullaperiyar issue despite writing two letters asking him to rein in Kerala for spreading panic over dam safety and also seeking CISF cover at dam site to prevent any man-made disaster.
“I had written to him (Dr Singh) on November 23 asking him to direct Kerala not to create panic on the safety of dam for political gains even as a case was pending before the Supreme Court. It has been more than 20 days since I wrote the letter but the Centre is silent and not acting,” she said. Reiterating that the retrofitted Mullaperiyar dam is as strong as a new dam, Ms Jayalalithaa rejected Kerala’s claims on tremors at dam site. “There is no iota of truth in fear that the dam would fall due to tremors and absolutely there is no basis in their argument,” she said.
Dismissing Kerala’s ‘Water for TN, safety for Kerala’ slogan as a deceiving tactic, Ms Jayalalithaa said Kerala was insisting on a new dam to generate more hydro-power from Idukki dam and deprive Tamil Nadu of its share of water.
DMK, a key partner of the Congress-led UPA, on Thursday accused the Centre of remaining “slack” on the Mullaperiyar dam issue as it pledged its cooperation for any ‘constructive’ effort taken by ruling AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.