Karnataka’s Pennaiyar dam plan illegal: Jaya
CHENNAI : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has written a letter to PM Manmohan Singh asking him to intervene against the Karnataka government’s proposals to build check dams across the Pennaiyar River. This is the second letter Jayalalithaa has written to Singh in as many days over Tamil Nadu’s riparian rights involving Karnataka, after she urged the PM to convene a meeting of the Cauvery River Authority.
Jayalalithaa’s letter, dated May 19, noted that the Pennaiyar River served as the lifeline of the people from five districts of Tamil Nadu, supplying drinking water as well as irrigating close to four lakh acres.
In the letter, Jayalalithaa noted that the Pennaiyar is an Inter-State river that finds mention in Schedule ‘A’ of the Madras-Mysore Agreement of 1892. As per this Agreement, Karnataka should not build any structure across the river to obstruct, divert or store Pennaiyar’s water without Tamil Nadu’s prior consent, the letter said.
“The Government of Karnataka has neither sought the consent of the Government of Tamil Nadu nor have they furnished any information to the Government of Tamil Nadu...(in this regard),” said Jayalalithaa in her letter. She urged the Prime Minister to intervene in the matter urgently and advise the Government of Karnataka against any proposal to build check dams or diversion structures across the Pennaiyar.