Mulllaperiyar: Chandy urges Modi to set up committee to study dam safety

New Delhi: New Delhi: Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi today to set up a special committee of international and national experts to do a fresh review on the hydrological safety of the Mullaperiyar Dam.

The Chief Minister, who called on Mr. Modi in New Delhi, said that this was necessary in the changed circumstances of extreme rainfall events (such as the flooding in Chennai following release of water from Chembarambakkam reservoir into Adayar River.)

He also urged Mr. Modi to facilitate talks between Tamil Nadu and Kerala on building a new dam at Maullaperiyar. If talks were not materialising, permission should be granted to build a new dam as a safety structure downstream of Mullperiyar. The Ministry of Environment and Forests should be asked to revoke the suspension of the clearance given for environmental impact assessment for the dam.

Mr. Chandy noted that Kerala was not opposed to giving waters from Mullaperiyar to Tamil Nadu. However, safety of the people of Kerala should be ensured.

The Chief Minister, who was accompanied by Ministers V. S. SivaKumar, P. J. Joseph, K. C. Joseph, K. Babu, Anoop Jacob and others, also called for declaration of Sabarimala as a national pilgrimage centre. They also sought Rs. 420 crore for Sabarimala development.

They also urged the Prime Minister to sanction an All India Medical Institute, upgrade Regional Cancer Centre in Thiruvananthapuram to a national institute and the Malabar Cancer Centre into a Postgraduate Institute of Oncology and Research.

The proposed railway coach factory at Kanjikode should be set up in collaboration with Steel Authority of India which had agreed to collaborate in the project.