Mullaperiyar issue: MPs from Kerala, TN meet PM

Tueasday, November 29, 2011: With the Mullaperiyar Dam issue assuming centrestage, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Tuesday indicated that a meeting of chief ministers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala would be convened soon to discuss the contentious issue at length.
Meeting a delegation of Congress MPs from Tamil Nadu, Singh assured them that he would talk to Union Water Resources Minister Pawan Kumar Bansal with regard to the issue over which the two states have been at loggerheads for a long time.
“The Prime Minister heard us patiently. We submitted a memorandum to him in this regard. He listened to our views. He said he would talk to Water Resources Minister and ask him to work on a meeting of chief ministers of both states,” Manick Tagore, Virduhunagar MP, told after the meeting.
The MPs told PM that Kerala should not be allowed to construct a new dam near the 116-year-old existing structure. They also asked Singh to intervene personally in the issue, which is at the centrestage again in the wake of reports that the dam is weakening due to increaseing incidents of tremor in Idduki district in Kerala.