The Hindu : Front Page : Settle Vizhinjam, dam issues, all-party team urges Manmohan

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Friday, Sep 01, 2006

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Settle Vizhinjam, dam issues, all-party team urges Manmohan

Special Correspondent

Delegation demands enhancement of monthly allocation of foodgrains

FOR STATE'S DEVELOPMENT: Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan submitting a memorandum on various needs of the State to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Thursday. — PTI photo

NEW DELHI: An all-party delegation from Kerala led by Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan and Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Thursday and sought an early settlement to the Mullaperiyar dam issue with Tamil Nadu, review of the denial of security clearance for the deepwater international container transhipment terminal at Vizhinjam and enhanced allocation for foodgrains.

Briefing presspersons after the meeting here on Thursday, the two leaders steered clear of all political issues with Mr. Chandy, in fact, stepping in when a question was put on the sexual harassment charge against Public Works Department Minister P.J. Joseph. Both were one in stating that the Prime Minister gave the delegation an assurance that the State's contentions on all three issues would be taken into account while taking a final view.

Mr. Achuthanandan said Union Water Resources Minister Saifuddin Soz and Union Law Minister H.R. Bharadwaj would discuss the stalemate over the Mullaperiyar issue with the Kerala and Tamil Nadu Governments and apprise the Prime Minister of the issue. Kerala's position was that the dam outlived its 60 years by a long stretch and increasing the water level would endanger the life and property of the people in five districts of the State - Idukki, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta.

Referring to the Supreme Court verdict of February 2006, allowing Tamil Nadu to increase the water level of the Mullaperiyar reservoir up to 142 ft., the Kerala delegation, in its memorandum, pointed out that as per the provisions of the contract entered between the two States, the remedial measure for resolving any difference of opinion was arbitration. ``Without resorting to the provisions of the agreement, the Tamil Nadu Government opted to obtain a verdict from the Supreme Court.''

Review decision

On Vizhinjam, the delegation sought a review of the Centre's denial of security clearance to the consortium, which won the bid to build the transhipment terminal. The delegation also enclosed the resolution adopted at an all-party meeting on August 16 to register Kerala's ``disapproval'' of the denial of security clearance.

Since security was at stake, Prime Minister's Principal Secretary T.K.A. Nair held a separate meeting with Mr. Achuthanandan, Mr. Chandy, Kerala Law Minister M. Vijaykumar and Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran to explain the Centre's decision. Minister of State for External Affairs E. Ahamad was present.

As for foodgrains, the delegation said the problems faced by Kerala due to categorisation of families into Below Poverty Line (BPL) and Above Poverty Line (APL) further aggravated by the ``arbitrary ceiling'' fixed by the Centre on the number of BPL families. As against the Centre's estimate of 15.54 lakh BPL families in Kerala, the State Government's assessment was that the figure stood at 20.22 lakh. Hence, the delegation sought an enhancement in the monthly foodgrain allocation from 41,824 tonnes to 58,273 tonnes.

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