Thiruvananthapuram: Tamil Nadu's move to start work on strengthening the Mullaperiyar baby dam after cutting overgrown trees has been hindered due to Kerala government's decision to freeze its earlier controversial order allowing the neighbouring state to cut the trees at the site.
However, the order issued by the Chief Wildlife Warden of the Kerala Forest Department has not been cancelled yet. It is sure that the mere freezing of the decision will be used as a weapon to attack Kerala by the Tamil Nadu government before the monitoring committee appointed by the Supreme Court to deal with the vexed Mullaperiyar dam issue.
Tamil Nadu's plan was to cut the overgrown trees from the site from Monday itself in the light of the favourable order issued to this effect by the Chief Wildlife Warden of Kerala.
Tamil Nadu's action plan was to approach the Supreme Court with the demand for raising the dam level to 152 feet just after cutting the overgrown trees and strengthening the Mullaperiyar baby dam. Keeping all these in mind, the Tamil Nadu Water Resource Minister visited the dam the other day and announced Tamil Nadu's intention to raise the water level to 152 feet.
Tamil Nadu has been demanding repair of the baby dam for the last many years. But Kerala's consistent stand has been that the safety issues of the dam will not be resolved merely by repairing the baby dam. Kerala wanted a new dam in the place of the existing dam, which is 125-year-old.
It is certain that Tamil Nadu is going to take advantage of Kerala's decision to merely freeze the order on tree cutting. It is to be seen how Kerala is going to tackle the situation without cancelling the order issued by the Chief Wildlife Warden.
The political parties in Tamil Nadu, including the main Opposition party AIADMK, had earlier come out openly against Chief Minister M K Stalin by questioning the stand taken by Tamil Nadu on the Mullaperiyar issue. But Stalin got a reprieve after the issuance of the order on tree-cutting by Kerala.
The Mullaperiyar Dam comprises the 152-foot-high and 1,200-foot-long main dam, a baby dam of 240 ft x 115 ft, and an earth dam 240 ft x 20 ft.
