Kerala, January 07: AIADMK chief J Jayalalithaa on Wednesday charged ruling DMK with not addressing inter-state water disputes like Cauvery and Palar and said its claim to take steps to prevent Kerala from setting up a new dam in Mullaperiar river was an “attempt to cheat people“.
“Despite being in power at the state and Centre (as part of the Congress-led UPA), the DMK has said that it will urge the Union Government to prevent efforts by Kerala Government to construct an unnecessary new dam. This is an attempt to cheat the people,” she said in a statement here.
Tamil Nadu Governor S. S. Barnala, in his address to the Assembly, on Wednesday said efforts will be taken to urge the Union Government to enable increasing the maximum level of storage of existing dam across the Mullaperiyar river in accordance with the Supreme Court judgment and to prevent the efforts by Kerala Government to construct an “unnecessary” new dam.
“The absence of issues like Cauvery or Palar (across which Andhra Pradesh proposes to construct a check dam) in the Governor’s address makes one wonder whether the government has decided that nothing can be done on these issues,” she said.
Despite the government’s assurances, power cut in the state continued. Also no measures were announced to control price rise and inflation, she charged.
–Agencies