THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan said here on Tuesday that raising the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam to 142 feet could not be accepted as a precondition for talks with Tamil Nadu.

Welcoming the decision of an all-party meeting in Tamil Nadu favouring talks on the water dispute, the Chief Minister said Kerala agreed with the proposal that the Centre should mediate in the talks. "It will be good to have the talks in the presence of the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh." Mr. Achuthanandan said the remark of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi that an all-party delegation from Kerala had misled the Prime Minister was "only an opinion."

He noted that the Supreme Court verdict allowing Tamil Nadu to raise the water level to 142 feet was not the final opinion of the court. It had subsequently observed that the States should settle the disputes through talks. The Mullaperiyar was not an inter-State river. The decision to fix the water level at 136 feet was taken at a meeting between the States on the advice of the Central Water Commission. The demand for increasing the water level was something that Kerala had rejected long ago.

Mr. Achuthanandan recalled that the Travancore Government had signed the Mullaperiyar agreement under pressure from the British resident. At the time of declaration of Independence, the British Government itself had annulled all agreements with the princely States of India. The supplementary agreement was signed in 1970 though the underlying agreement was invalid.

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