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Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Mullaiperiyar Dam Row


  








Kerala MP's Protest
Cutting across party lines, MPs from Kerala continued their protest over the Mullaperiyar Dam issue in Parliament premiseson Nov 30,2011, demanding that a new structure be built to replace the existing one.
Holding placards, various MPs from different political parties including the ruling Congress sat on a peaceful dharna before the statue of Mahatma Gandhi, claiming that the lives of 30 lakh people were endangered




Kerala Assembly Committee Visit Mullaperiyar Dam
The subject committee of the Kerala Assembly headed by Water Resources Minister P. J. Joseph visit Mullaperiyar dam as part of its assessment of the Mullapeiryar issue on Thursday Dec 08,2011



Kerala CM Meets PM and Sonia Gandhi
Kerala CM  Oomen Chandy met UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi and PM  Manmohan Singh on Friday Dec 02,2011 to seek support for the construction of a new dam in place of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar reservoir, citing safety concerns.

 



Kerala Govt. Cabinet Meet
 The Kerala state cabinet met last on Monday Dec 05,2011 for the Attorney General to explain his stand on the issue.


 Kerala All-party Meeting on Mullaperiyar Dam Row

Kerala CM Oommen Chandy called for an all-party meeting will be taking place in Thiruvananthapuram on Tuesday Dec 06,2011.



  
TN BJP Leaders Meet L K Advani on Mullaperiyar Dam Row

BJP TN State Unit Secretary Pon Radhakrishnan,  led delegation of BJP leaders from TN  on Saturday Dec 10,2011 accompanied by senior leaders L Ganesan and H Raja met party senior leader L K Advani in Delhi to apprise him of the state's "just stand and Kerala's wrong campaign" on ''Mullaperiyar Dam Row''  ahead of his scheduled meeting with PM Manmohan Singh.



208 km Human Chain  Demanding a New Dam 


A human chain stretching over 208 km and across two districts of Kerala was formed on Thursday Dec 08,2011 to press the state's demand for a new dam to replace the 115-year-old leaking Mullaperiyar masonry dam, said an organiser from the Left Democratic Front (LDF).he 208-km human chain one end was close to the dam site and the other was near the Arabian sea at Kochi in Ernakulam district.People stood shoulder to shoulder and repeated the common statement which was announced over the microphone. The statement read: "Kerala's four million people's life is in danger because the present 115-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam is shaky after 28 tremors hit the area in and around the dam site in the past nine months."  









Kerala Assembly Passes Resolution for a new dam to replace the existing the 116-year old reservoir

 Kerala Assembly on Friday Dec 09,2011 unanimously passed a resolution insisting on a new dam to replace the 116-year old reservoir.The one-day special Assembly session adopted a resolution moved by Chief Minister Ommen Chandy asking the Centre and the state government to take steps to build a new dam




DMK on a day long fast on Mullaperiyar Dam Row

DMK leaders are observing a daylong fast on Monday Dec 12,2011 to draw the Centre's attention towards the vexed Mullaperiyar Dam issue and also assert the state's rights



  
SC says no to TN and Kerala pleas - Dec 13,2011


The SC on Tuesday Dec 13,2011 deftly deflected impassioned pleas relating to safety of Mullaperiyar dam saying its empowered committee headed by former CJI A S Anand was looking into the matter but sought responses from the Centre and Kerala  government in two days on Tamil Nadu's plea for deployment of Central Industrial Security Forces (CISF) around the dam site for security purposes. Both the TN Govt.  and the Kerala Govt. withdrew their much publicized pleas from the apex court -TN seeking to gag Kerala's top politicians and officers from spreading alleged canards about the safety of the dam and Kerala seeking a direction to reduce the water level in the dam from 136 feet to 120 feet. The court told the TN government that its contention that Kerala's apprehensions were baseless was also not correct since they had cited the breach in water level and also the frequency of tremors. It also disapproved the advertisement issues by Jayalalithaa government quoting court's observations. 




 23-member all-party delegation from Kerala, led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy meets PM

 

 PM Manmohan Singh on Wednesday Dec 14,2011 (while speaking to the 23-member all-party delegation from Kerala, led by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, which submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention and permission to construct a new dam to replace the 115-year-old leaking dam in the state's Idukki district.) said that both Kerala and Tamil Nadu should observe restraint on the Mullaperiyar Dam issue and create an environment to facilitate a dialogue to find an amicable solution.

Armed forces must maintain rivers, dams:A P J Abdul Kalam

 

 Former President A P J Abdul Kalam on Wednesday said the country could not afford a civil war on water and suggested deployment of armed forces to maintain rivers and dams.
"Water cannot be a (source of) conflict in India. India cannot afford a civil war on water... Indian rivers and dams have to be operated and maintained by army, navy or other armed forces for equitable distribution," he said after inaugurating a one-day conference "Agricon 2011" organised by CII in Chennai.
The row over the Mullaperiyar dam has intensified in recent days leading to tension between the two neighbours, resulting in sporadic violence.
Former President A P J Abdul Kalam suggested a National Water Grid Management Scheme, which could be one of the mechanisms to resolve inter-state disputes. "Like National Highways and the Central Power Grid, my suggestion is a National Water Grid Management .



TN Assembly passes resolution unanimously demanding that Kerala should take immediate steps to increase water levels in the dam to 142 feet as per Supreme Court orders - Dec 15,2011

CM J Jayalalithaa moved the resolution which was supported by all the MLAs including those belonging to the DMK and DMDK.  

The resolution -
    expresses disappointment over Kerala's resolution passed on December 6 asking water level to be reduced to 120 feet.
    demanded that CISF should be deployed immediately at the dam site.   



    Blockade on 13 routes that connect TN and Kerala - Dec21,2011

     

    MDMK leader Vaiko and Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P Nedumaram have been arrested as they tried to block all routes to Kerala in TN'sborders districts of Theni, Kanyakumari, Coimbatore and the Nilgiris as part of an economic blockade in protest of the Kerala government's demand for decommissioning the controversial Mullaperiyar dam.



    SC Appointed Empowered Committee Visits Dam - Dec 24,2011



    The SC set up the committee under the chairmanship of  former chief justice of India A S Anand with one member each representing Kerala and TN in 2010.The 2 technical members of the panelC D Thatte and D K Mehta visited the Mullaiperiyar Dam on Saturday Dec 24,2011.The Kerala Team comprising the Mullaiperiyar Cell Chairman M K P Nair,Sr.Er and officials decided against joining the panel technical members alleging they did not give due attention to their briefings,mostly conmcerning the safety of the dam.

    400 arrested following protests over Mullaperiyar

     


    Tamil actor-director and founder-president of Naam Tamizhar Katchi (NTK), Seeman, was arrested on Monday Dec 26,2011along with 300 of his partymen at Walayar on the Tamil Nadu-Kerala border for picketing the road demanding that the Centre immediately find a solution to the Mullaperiyar dam dispute.
    Seeman picketed the Palakkad-Coimbatore highway alongwith his partymen. Raising slogans against the Kerala government, nearly 1,000 NTK workers demanded that the neighbouring state implement the Supreme Court verdict allowing Tamil Nadu to increase the storage capacity of the dam to 142 ft.
    Traffic was disrupted for nearly three hours

    SC gives Dam Panel two more months to submit report

    The Supreme Court on Monday Feb 27,2012 gave two more months, till April 30, to the Empowered Committee headed by former Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand to submit its report on the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam.
    A five-judge Constitution Bench of Justices D.K. Jain, R.M. Lodha, Deepak Verma, C.K. Prasad and Anil R. Dave passed this order on a request from the committee seeking time till April 30 for submitting its final report to the court.
    The present term of the committee ends on February 29. The court appointed the committee in 2010 on a suit filed by Tamil Nadu challenging a law passed by Kerala to prevent it from raising the water level in the dam above 136 ft as permitted by the Supreme Court.



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