Dam row: Jayalalithaa slams PM for succumbing to Kerala

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Chief minister Jayalalithaa wrote another letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday, this time objecting to National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) forming a team of experts to draw a contingency response plan for Mullaiperiyar dam and downstream areas.

CM expressed “shock” at the plan that includes “inundation and submergence models” in the event of earthquakes and floods.

Ms Jayalalithaa said the constitution of the team was “succumbing to subterfuge of the government of Kerala” and “presenting a fait accompli to the Supreme Court and the empowered committee constituted by it”. She sought withdrawal of the office memorandum number 72/2011, dated December 12, 2011, of NDMA headed by PM.

Ms Jayalalithaa also objected to the inclusion of professor D.K. Paul of IIT-Roorkee earthquake engineering department in the team, recalling an SC decision to not take cognizance of a Kerala plea to include him as a witness in the pending Mullaiperiyar suit.

She said there was every possibility that Mr Paul’s “untested views will influence the team of experts of NDMA”.

Referring to the SC order of February 2006 allowing TN to raise the water level in the dam to 142 feet and the EC report expected in February 2012, CM said Kerala had approached NDMA to circumvent the legal process.

“The objective of the Kerala government appears to be a calculated attempt to pressure EC to declare the dam unsafe,” she said.