Tamil Nadu to move apex court

Thiruvananthapuram: With the ministerial level talks on the decades-long Mullaperiyar dam dispute involving Kerala and Tamil Nadu drawing blank yesterday, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi declared that his government would move the Supreme Court to find a solution to the dam issue.

The ministerial level talks involving Public Works Department (PWD) Minister of Tamil Nadu Durai Murugan and Water Resources Minister of Kerala N.K. Premachandran was held at the behest of Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz.

While Kerala stuck to its stand that raising the storage level above 136 feet would endanger the safety of 3.5 million people in its five districts, Tamil Nadu stood firm on its demand to raise the level to 142 feet immediately in keeping with a Supreme Court order.

Though the ministerial level talks failed there was speculation that the talk might resume involving Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and his Kerala counterpart V.S. Achuthanandan.

Karunanidhi's statement that he would move the apex court has now dashed such a hope.

When newsmen asked Karunanidhi what would be next course of action as the talks so far had failed to make any breakthrough, he replied that the all-party meeting convened by the Tamil Nadu Government on October 23, had already decided to move the apex court if the talks failed to yield the desired result.

A few days ago, Karunanidhi had announced that he pinned his hopes on the apex court which had already called for raising the water level to 142 feet.

He recalled that the all-party meeting had stated in a resolution that the Tamil Nadu Government, as a gesture of goodwill and as suggested by the Supreme Court, could hold talks with Kerala, but if the talks failed to benefit the state, it could approach the apex court.

The resolution had stated that if the talks did not yield the desired result, Tamil Nadu could again move the Supreme Court and ensure that its February 27 order to raise the water level in the dam from 136 feet to 142 feet was implemented, Karun-anidhi said.