Maintaining that a Supreme Court appointed panel on Mullaperiyar Dam had accepted Kerala's demand for a new reservoir, chief minister Oommen Chandy on Friday said the state, which is locked in a row with Tamil Nadu on the issue, would bring it to the court's notice.

"The (Supreme Court appointed) Empowered Committee has accepted the idea of a new dam. We will be highlighting that in the apex court", Chandy told the assembly.

The Kerala government was continuing to prevent free movement of construction materials required to fill up holes in the Mullaperiyar dam, said Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) general secretary Vaiko here on Thursday.

Be it a water dispute or an environmental issue that affected people of Tamil Nadu, the MDMK stood in the forefront and turned it into a people's movement, he said.

Minister says letter was sent on Saturday

In response to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa's allegation on Sunday that the Kerala government was preventing officials of her State from closing the holes drilled for tests on the Mullaperiyar dam, Kerala has clarified that it had written to Tamil Nadu on Saturday stating categorically that it had no objection to the work, a stance it had made clear even two months ago.

Charging Kerala with preventing Tamil Nadu from plugging the holes drilled in the Mullaperiyar dam, chief minister J.

A team of TN public works department (PWD) engineers will visit Mullaperiyar Thursday to fill holes dug by experts to study structural safety of the dam.

Principal secretary (PWD) M. Saikumar said the work would be completed in four days starting Thursday. The experts appointed by a Supreme Court-constituted empowered committee (EC), which studied safety of the 116-year-old structure, reportedly dug seven six-inch wide and 130-190-foot deep holes across the 1,200-foot main dam.

The Kerala Chief Minister, Mr Oommen Chandy, hopes the long-pending dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar dam can be resolved through legal processes, as the neighbouring Stat

CHENNAI: The Supreme Court-constituted expert panel to study the safety of Mullaiperiyar Dam has overstepped its brief in making suggestions for resolving the inter-state issue, Tamil Nadu PWD Senior Engineers Association (TANSEA) observed on Monday.

“The AS Anand Committee was only asked to report on whether the dam was safe or not. It did not have any business making recommendations to Kerala to build another dam,” TANSEA secretary A Veerappan, said addressing a press conference here.

KOCHI: The structural stability, strength, safety, height of water, effect of seismic forces, hydraulics, effect of leakage etc on Mullaperiyar dam are basically to be decided by expert civil engin

The report of the Empowered Committee, though subject to condtions, was in favour of constructing a new dam to replace the existing one at Mullaperiyar, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said.

The nominee of the State on the committee, K.T. Thomas, had done his best to protect the interests of Kerala. He had expressed the views of Kerala in his dissent note and had listed six reasons for keeping the water level in the reservoir at 136 feet. The only objection was that he had not made any dissent on the finding that the dam was safe, Mr. Chandy said.

Member of the Supreme Court appointed Empowered Committee on Mullaperiyar Dam Justice K.T. Thomas on Thursday said it was unfortunate that some quarters had sought to politicise and whip up emotions on the panel's report, instead of looking at it rationally.

"Those who are finding fault with the report are doing so without understanding its contents fully.In a matter like this emotion should not get precedence over reason," Justice Thomas, the nominee of Kerala on the panel, told agencies.