Leopards straying into in villages nestling along the forest fringes in the State, attacking people and their cattle have become a matter of serious concern.

The killing of a healthy female leopard that had strayed into the small hamlet of Angamoozhy in the Ranni forest division by an unruly mob on Tuesday was the latest in the series of human-leopard conflict in the State.

A five-judge constitution bench of the Supreme Court on Monday allowed a further two months time to the expert committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand to submit its report on the safety of the controversial Mullaperiyar dam.

The panel had been directed by the top court to assess the safety of the century-old dam situated in Tamil Nadu and becoming a matter of its serious dispute with neighbouring Kerala with people of the region protesting against it, especially after a recent tremor, which let to speculative reports about its safety.

N.K. Premachandran, former Water Resources Minister, said here on Monday that Tamil Nadu had agreed in principle to the proposal for a new dam at Mullaperiyar way back as 1979.

At the suggestion of the Central Water Commission, both Tamil Nadu and Kerala had agreed for a new dam and a joint proposal had been submitted to the commission. However, the CWC had not pursued this. When asked, through a Right to Information query, the CWC had said that the proposal was not technically feasible.

The five-member Empowered Committee (EC) headed by former Chief Justice of India A. S.

Union minister V. Narayanasamy has said the Prime Minister can get involved in finding a solution to the long-drawn Mullaiperiyar dam tussle only if Tamil Nadu and Kerala withdraw their petitions from the Supreme Court and agree to a negotiated solution.

He would not be able to intervene when the issue is before the court, explained the minister while addressing the all-India editors conference on social issues here on Saturday.

Mullaperiyar issue is not a conventional inter-state water dispute as visualised in Article 162 of the Constitution.

KOCHI: The disaster management measures to be adopted in the district in case of a Mullaperiyar disaster will be decided based on the impact-assessment report being prepared by IIT Roorkee. A decision to this effect was taken at the District Development Council meeting held in Kochi on Saturday.

A high-level meeting of all the departments concerned will be held as soon as the report is ready. The university has already prepared such a report for Idukki.

Sticking to its stand on building a new dam in place of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar reservoir, Kerala on Friday said it is aware of the importance of giving water to five parched districts of Tamil Nadu, but is concerned over the safety of its people.

"We know very well the importance of water from Mullaperiyar to Tamil Nadu. The five districts of Tamil Nadu are completely depending on water from Mullaperiyar. We are always for distribution of water without any objection," Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters here.

Kerala would do all that was necessary to protect the Mullaperiyar dam, and all protection was being given to Tamil Nadu PWD staff working in the dam, tourists from Tamil Nadu and Ayyappa devotees

Tamil Nadu wants it to maintain that dam will continue to serve its purpose