CHENNAI: The Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) on Sunday announced that it would organise a rally in Madurai on September 19 to highlight the need for safeguarding the State's interests on the Mullaperiyar issue.

Referring to a Kerala delegation calling on the Prime Minister some days ago on the issue, Vaiko, MDMK general secretary, in a statement, said the announcement that the Union Water Resources and Law Ministers would examine the issue was disturbing.

So a rally would be organised to express the anguish of farmers of southern parts of the State; present the State's case collectively and generate greater awareness among the people on the issue.

The controversy between the two States is over increasing the water level.

As a sequel to the Supreme Court's order in February, 2006, to increase the water level from the existing 136 feet to 142 ft, Tamil Nadu was keen on raising the level.

But, Kerala was opposed to any move to increase the water level. In March, its Assembly adopted a legislation to amend the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation Act that sought to prohibit the raising of the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam beyond 136 feet.

Meanwhile, Chief Engineer (Inter-State River Waters) of Kerala K. Divakaran decried the statement of Chief Engineer of Tamil Nadu Water Resources Organisation that all steps were taken to increase the water level at the Mullaperiyar reservoir.

Quoting the statement that appeared in The Hindu on September 8, the Chief Engineer said the Mullaperiyar dam was 111 years old.

It had been proposed as back as in 1979 at meetings held in Thiruvananthapuram and New Delhi and presided over by the Chairman of the Central Water Commission, that a new dam should be constructed besides taking immediate steps to strengthen the dam.

Accordingly, a team of engineers from both Kerala and Tamil Nadu conducted a site inspection.

The Kerala Government gave clearance for their finding that the existing dam should be decommissioned and a new one built in its place. However, Tamil Nadu did not cooperate with the proposal.

Mr. Divakaran said the studies by the Centre for Earth Science Studies following earth quakes in 2000 and 2001 showed that the region was earthquake prone.

There was concern that another earthquake would lead to failure of the dam and loss of many lives in three districts.

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