THIRUVANANTHAPURAM:Kerala will continue with its declared stand that no Central security is needed for the Mullaperiyar dam. Even as the Supreme Court on Friday sought the State’s response on Tamil Nadu’s plea that the dam’s security should be handed over to the CISF, Kerala continued to maintain that the security provided by the State would be adequate.
Water Resources minister P J Joseph told ‘Express’ that as of now, no CISF security was required for the Mullaperiyar dam. “Kerala has already made it clear to the Central Government and the Apex Court that the State had been providing adequate security to the dam, and that no Central security was needed. We will continue with this stand when we furnish reply to the notice within two weeks,” Joseph said.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said in New Delhi that the State would enhance security of the reservoir irrespective of the reports.
Citing the recent Intelligence Bureau report, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy on Friday said that security at the Mullaperiyar dam will be beefed up even while he expressed his strong displeasure over the IB conducting a field inspection without keeping the state government in the loop.
“Since it is an IB report, we’ll comply with it. But they have conducted an inspection without the knowledge of our (state) government. We’ve lodged our protest with Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh,’’ Chandy said at the briefing.
“Kerala Government was not at all aware about the inspection conducted by the IB. When such inspections are being conducted in a state, the Centre used to inform the respective state. But they have not followed it in this issue,” he said.
Stating that there was no necessity for the CISF to take care of security at the dam, Oommen Chandy asserted that the state’s police were already providing security for the dam.