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YC ‘seizes’ TN shutter at Mullaperiyar
Kerala Advocate General KP Dandapani, who had the other day given an affidavit in the High Court against the interests and stand of the State Government in a case pertaining to the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, said on Saturday that he would not resign even as Ministers in the Oommen Chandy Cabinet and Congress leaders called for his expulsion.
In Thekkady near Mullaperiyar, Youth Congress activists on Saturday intensified their protest against the “intransigence” of Tamil Nadu by “seizing” the shutters it was using to draw water from the reservoir. An Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police and two Youth Congress workers suffered injuries after the agitation turned violent.
Though almost the entire Congress leadership, Opposition leaders and anti-Mullaperiyar agitators called for Dandapani’s resignation or removal, sources in the Government indicated that action against him was unlikely. It is said that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and some others are against taking any action against the AG.
“Let me examine the issue. I have just come back to the State,” the Chief Minister told newsmen after landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport on his way back from Delhi where he had gone to meet the Prime Minister and other leaders to sort out the Mullaperiyar issue. He had said on Friday that an explanation had been sought from the AG for his statement in the High Court.
Advocate General Dandapani had on Friday told the High Court that even a breach in the Mullaperiyar would not cause a huge disaster. Taking a stand contrary to that of the Government, he said in the court that the three-dam Idukki reservoir system was capable of containing the entire water of the Mullaperiyar reservoir even if the old dam broke.
The Government wants a new dam to be constructed so that the old one could be decommissioned and the water level in the reservoir to be lowered from the presently permitted level of 136 feet to 120 feet saying that Idukki reservoir could burst if the Mullaperiyar water gushes into it in the event of a dam break, leading to the loss of over 35 million human lives.
Dandapani himself told newsmen on Saturday that he had no plans to resign as AG as he had done nothing wrong. He said he would appear in the High Court again on Tuesday to argue the Mullaperiyar case. On Friday itself, he had said that whatever he had said in the court was in accordance with the Government’s stand.
Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan of the Congress said that the AG had wronged and he should be removed for that while senior Congress spokesman MM Hassan wondered how the Government could allow a person making statements against it in the court to continue as Advocate General.
In Thekkady, a Youth Congress agitation demanding lowering of water level in the reservoir turned violent forcing the police to carry out a lathi-charge. The activists broke open the gates of the Forest Department’s check-post, climbed up the shutter block Tamil Nadu used to draw water from the Mullaperiyar reservoir and hoisted the outfit’s flags on it declaring its “seizure”.
Inspector General of Police (Central Zone) R Sreelekha admitted that lapse on the part of the police could have led to the incident. Despite the tense situation on the inter-state border in the context of continuous agitations over the Mullaperiyar issue, only a handful of police personnel had been deployed there, it was said.
Kerala Advocate General KP Dandapani, who had the other day given an affidavit in the High Court against the interests and stand of the State Government in a case pertaining to the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, said on Saturday that he would not resign even as Ministers in the Oommen Chandy Cabinet and Congress leaders called for his expulsion.
In Thekkady near Mullaperiyar, Youth Congress activists on Saturday intensified their protest against the “intransigence” of Tamil Nadu by “seizing” the shutters it was using to draw water from the reservoir. An Assistant Sub-Inspector of Police and two Youth Congress workers suffered injuries after the agitation turned violent.
Though almost the entire Congress leadership, Opposition leaders and anti-Mullaperiyar agitators called for Dandapani’s resignation or removal, sources in the Government indicated that action against him was unlikely. It is said that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy and some others are against taking any action against the AG.
“Let me examine the issue. I have just come back to the State,” the Chief Minister told newsmen after landing at Thiruvananthapuram airport on his way back from Delhi where he had gone to meet the Prime Minister and other leaders to sort out the Mullaperiyar issue. He had said on Friday that an explanation had been sought from the AG for his statement in the High Court.
Advocate General Dandapani had on Friday told the High Court that even a breach in the Mullaperiyar would not cause a huge disaster. Taking a stand contrary to that of the Government, he said in the court that the three-dam Idukki reservoir system was capable of containing the entire water of the Mullaperiyar reservoir even if the old dam broke.
The Government wants a new dam to be constructed so that the old one could be decommissioned and the water level in the reservoir to be lowered from the presently permitted level of 136 feet to 120 feet saying that Idukki reservoir could burst if the Mullaperiyar water gushes into it in the event of a dam break, leading to the loss of over 35 million human lives.
Dandapani himself told newsmen on Saturday that he had no plans to resign as AG as he had done nothing wrong. He said he would appear in the High Court again on Tuesday to argue the Mullaperiyar case. On Friday itself, he had said that whatever he had said in the court was in accordance with the Government’s stand.
Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan of the Congress said that the AG had wronged and he should be removed for that while senior Congress spokesman MM Hassan wondered how the Government could allow a person making statements against it in the court to continue as Advocate General.
In Thekkady, a Youth Congress agitation demanding lowering of water level in the reservoir turned violent forcing the police to carry out a lathi-charge. The activists broke open the gates of the Forest Department’s check-post, climbed up the shutter block Tamil Nadu used to draw water from the Mullaperiyar reservoir and hoisted the outfit’s flags on it declaring its “seizure”.
Inspector General of Police (Central Zone) R Sreelekha admitted that lapse on the part of the police could have led to the incident. Despite the tense situation on the inter-state border in the context of continuous agitations over the Mullaperiyar issue, only a handful of police personnel had been deployed there, it was said.
