THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Water Resources Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan on Thursday said that Tamil Nadu's `insensitivity' to Kerala's concerns about the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam was quite `unfortunate.'

He made the statement in the State Assembly when the Peermade MLA E.M. Augusty, in whose constituency the 110-year-old dam is situated, made a submission expressing his fears over the water level in the reservoir being allowed to go beyond the maximum permissible height of 136 feet.

The Minister said this was an extremely sensitive issue. Even on Thursday morning, the reservoir had 136.2 feet of water. The catchments received 5 cm of rainfall on Wednesday, making further inflow to the reservoir a certainty. He said he had apprised the Union Government of the situation.

"Our engineers are at the dam site. We shall decide upon a course of action after receiving their report. And I want to assure the House that, whatever action we decide to take, it will be based on justice. We have to protect the lives and properties of our people," Mr. Radhakrishnan said.

Mr. Augusty said the water level continued to hover above this safe limit for the 11th successive day on Thursday. Though the dam is situated in Kerala's Idukki district, its affairs are being managed by the Tamil Nadu Government on the strength of the existing water pact between the two States. In 1979, when the ancient dam developed leaks, Tamil Nadu had agreed to maintain the water level below 136 feet to ensure the safety of the dam.

Mr. Augusty alleged that Tamil Nadu engineers had created a mount of rubble around the spillway of the reservoir to prevent the water from overflowing into the Kerala side even if the water level went above the permissible level. By doing this, they are endangering the lives of the people residing downstream.

He said the course of the Periyar river downstream had become human habitations after the construction of the dam 110 years ago.

Tens of thousands of people reside along the stretch. He wanted the Kerala Government to send its engineers and workers to clear the mount around the spillway since Tamil Nadu engineers could not be trusted to do that.

He said Kerala's pleas so far had fallen on deaf ears.

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