Chennai: DMK chief M Karunanidhi Monday sought Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's intervention to end attacks on Tamils in Kerala in the wake of the Mullaperiyar Dam row and to ensure the neighbouring state abides by the 2006 Supreme Court order to raise storage level from 136 feet to 142 feet.
Karunanidhi submitted to Singh, who is on a two-day visit to the state, a memorandum, accusing Kerala of having created a situation where "people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been instigated to fight against each other like people of two different countries."
Alleging that the continued campaign by Kerala had resulted in many 'undesirable incidents' creating animosity between the people of the two states, the memorandum said it had forced Tamils living in Kerala to leave that state. The memorandum also referred to "sentimental outburst" of the affected people of southern districts of Tamil Nadu, whose irrigation needs are met by the Mullaperiyar Dam.
"This situation, unless contained and changed immediately, will lead to permanent strain and cleavage between the people of the two states," the memorandum by DMK, a key UPA ally said. It also said the dam issue was before the Supreme Court and any effort by Kerala government to reduce the water level and attempt to construct a new dam "has to be viewed as an attempt to subvert the judicial process and deny justice to the people of Tamil Nadu."
The memorandum said that even after works of strengthening the dam by Tamil Nadu government, Kerala continued to maintain the water level at 136 feet and seeking to reduce it to 120 feet, instead of abiding by the Supreme Court order. "If government of Kerala is persistent on its stand, at least five southern districts of Tamil Nadu will become deserts without water for irrigation," it said.
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Waste issue: Harthal begins in Thiruvananthapuram
Thiruvananthapuram: The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by BJP in the state capital against the crisis in garbage movement evoked partial response. The protest was organised against the 'failure' of the city corporation and the state government to resolve the crisis concerning garbage movement, which has resulted in houselhold waste piling up in the city in the last five days. While shops and restaurants remained closed,the hartal did not seriously hamper bus and other public transport services. BJP workers took out a march accusing the government and the corporation of sitting idle while the entire city was
'stinking.'
Emergency services like healthcare, milk supply and wedding parties had been exempted from the shut-down protest.
Garbage collection and disposal has come to a halt in the city following the stand-off between the city corporation and Vilapplil village panchyat on the outskirts, where the waste processing plant is located. People in village wanted the plant to be re-located,saying its presence caused serious health problems in the area. The village civic authorities had last week locked up the gates of the plant to stop the waste from being dumped there. Though Chief Minister Oommen Chandy held talks with the panchayat and corporation authorities last week, no solution could be found to the issue. PTI
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