Pinarayi Vijayan, who took charge as Kerala’s new Chief Minister just four days back, on Sunday came under heavy attack over his alleged volte-face on the vexed Kerala-Tamil Nadu issue of the age-weakened Mullaperiyar dam.
The Opposition Congress party came down heavily on Pinarayi while the Mullaperiyar Agitation Council, which has for the past several years, been demanding a permanent
solution to their anxieties about the 120-year-old dam, was considering stepping up their agitation in the context of the CM’s new stand.
Pinarayi had the other day said Kerala should approach the Mullaperiyar issue on the basis of the latest studies which had said that there was no need to worry about the strength of the 120-year-old dam. This is quite contrary to the stand taken by the Governments that had been in-charge so far and political parties including the left over the dam issue.
The Chief Minister also said Kerala should consider the rejection by the Supreme Court of the State’s demand for construction of a new dam at Mullaperiyar. When it was pointed out that a resolution favouring construction of a new dam was passed in the Assembly during the tenure of the former lDF regime, he said the Apex court’s order had come after that.
“It is highly condemnable and unfortunate,” was how former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy responded to Pinarayi’s statement. “It is directly opposite to the stand taken by the many Governments that have come into being in Kerala. The issue is not just of a dam but it concerns the safety and security of the people,” Chandy said.
“The CM’s stand is nothing but betrayal,” said State Congress vice-president VD Satheesan MlA. “The lDF manifesto (for the just concluded Assembly election) had announced the left’s decision to construct a new dam at Mullaperiyar. A change of stand like this in just three days of coming to power is violation of the promise made to the people,” he said.
Pinarayi tried to clarify his stand on Sunday by saying, “What Kerala needs with Tamil Nadu is not conflict. We can’t build a dam unilaterally. We should find a solution through discussions,” he said. However, the clarification failed to convince those who were arguing for a new dam at Mullaperiyar.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been locked in a bitter dispute for long over the dam situated in Kerala territory on the inter-State border. As per an 1886 pact, Tamil Nadu can draw the entire water in the dam for 999 years. While Kerala argues that the age-weakened dam is a threat to the lives of lakhs of people in the State, Tamil Nadu says that the dam is still safe and strong.
“During the election campaign, the left had told the people here that they would do everything possible for a permanent solution to the threat posed by the existing weak dam. Now we learn that the CM himself is withdrawing from that guarantee. We can’t accept this,” said an office-bearer of the agitation council from Chappath near the dam.
In 2011, when the rising water level in the Mullaperiyar reservoir had kept the people of five districts coming in the downstream areas of the dam on the needlepoint of anxiety, left leaders had joined the protest fast in Chappath. Pinarayi himself had participated in the Human Wall the left had organized in that context.
Stating that there was mystery behind the change in Pinarayi’s stand on the dam issue, State Congress president VM Sudheeran asked, “What has forced the Chief Minister to change his standIJ” He said that there was mystery in the position that neglected the general sentiment of the people and the stand of the State Assembly.