CHENNAI: PMK founder S Ramadoss on Wednesday accused the Kerala government of using backdoor methods in an attempt to scuttle the Supreme Court-mandated raising of the water level in the Mullaiperiyar Dam to 142 ft. He said it was speeding up construction of a parking lot in the reservoir area, and urged the Tamil Nadu government to take steps to prevent any progress on this project.
“The construction of the parking lot is nothing but another underhanded attempt to prevent the court-ordered raising of the water level. It is similar to the construction of a tourist bungalow in the reservoir area when Tamil Nadu had lowered the water level from 152 ft to 136 ft in 1979 to carry out strengthening work in response to fear-mongering,” said Ramadoss.
He also rejected the Kerala government’s reasoning behind building the new parking lot at a cost of `10 crore. The Kerala government had said it was replacing the older parking lot near Turtle Park, as the vehicular movement there was disturbing wildlife. Ramadoss suggested that a ban on noise would have been order, instead of a `10 crore parking lot.
He sought immediate intervention by the Tamil Nadu government in stopping the construction, and urged the Centre to appoint a member to the Supreme Court-ordered three-person committee to oversee the raising of the water level to 142 feet, and then to the original 152 feet.
‘Link Water Bodies’
The DMDK on Wednesday urged the TN government to take up works to link all water bodies in the State in a bid to prevent droughts in the future. This was among the resolutions passed by party functionaries on Wednesday, at their first meeting since the DMDK failed to open account in the recent Lok Sabha election.
The meeting saw the participation of the party’s top functionaries, leaders of various wings of the party and district leaders. Party seniors sought the opinions of lower level functionaries on the way forward for the party.