Thiruvananthapuram, Thursday 3 January 2011: Kerala government on Thursday expressed concern over the steps and conclusions of technical expert nominees of the Centre in the Empowered Committee appointed by Supreme Court to resolve the Mullaperiyar issue.

Addressing a press conference here, State Water Resources Minister N K Premachandran said constitution of Co-ordination committee to study the technical issues connected with the Mullaperiyar to advise the Empowered Committee was unilateral. ‘This matter will be brought to the notice of the Empowered Committee’, he said.

The committee has entrusted the Centre Water Commission (CWC), Central Soil and Material Research Station to study the possibility of constructing a new dam in place of the existing reservoir as proposed by the State government, he said. It was based on a report of CWC, that Centre earlier took a decision to increase the water level in Mullaperiyar dam, he pointed out.

So, by entrusting the study on behalf of the Empowered Committee to an agency like CWC would harm the interest of Kerala, he said. The technical director of the Empowered Committee was Centre Water Commission Director S Ghosh.

This was against assurance given by the Centre to Supreme Court and also against apex court order that directed the Centre not to include CWC representative in the Co-ordination committee, he added.

The Mullaperiyar dam on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border has been a bone of contention between the states for a long time. Kerala holds that the dam, built during British rule, is in a precarious condition and if it breaks, millions of people in downstream areas would be in danger. The state conducted a survey for construction of a new dam, which was opposed by Tamil Nadu, which benefits mostly from the waters from the reservoir.

(PTI)