Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine on Wednesday denied charges that a meeting was held by department secretaries of the state government to discuss the felling of trees near the Baby Dam at Mullaperiyar.
“The Water Resources Department Additional Secretary has confirmed that no meeting, official or otherwise, was held on November 1 to discuss the issue,” the Minister said.
"The Minister's office was not intimated about any meeting. There are no minutes or documents suggesting that a meeting was convened for the same," he added.
The Minister also clarified that the Water Authority Department was not part of the joint delegation of Tamil Nadu and Kerala authorities which visited the baby dam site in June. Only Forest Department officials were part of the team, he said.
"No department has agreed to axe the trees. The government still stands by its demand for a new dam," he said.
After feigning ignorance about the matter in the Assembly, Forest Minister A K Saseendran had admitted on Tuesday that a joint delegation of Tamil Nadu and Kerala had visited the baby dam site in June.
It was earlier reported that an unofficial meeting was held on November 1 to discuss how to issue an order based on the decisions taken at a virtual meeting on September 17. As per the decision taken at the meeting, a government order was issued on November 5 allowing the cutting of trees at the dam site.
Tamil Nadu had been approaching Kerala with the demand for cutting trees since 2012 in a bid to reinforce the baby dam prior to increasing the water level in the Mullaperiyar Dam to 152 feet.
It has been argued that the water level at the main reservoir could be 'safely' increased once the baby dam is strengthened.
As many as three huge trees — Bedda Nut (Terminalia bellirica), Malabar Cinnamon (Cinnamomum malabatrum) and Dhaman (Grewia tiliaefolia) — growing close to the baby dam and 24 other trees within 10 metres of the structure should be axed to strengthen the structure.
Once these trees are felled, Tamil Nadu could bring the necessary equipment and raw materials to reinforce the dam.