Chennai: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Monday assured DMK that the Centre would take all steps to maintain
friendly ties between Tamil Nadu and Kerala and ensure return
of normalcy in both states in the wake of the Mullaperiyar Dam
row, party chief M Karunanidhi said.
Leading a 12-member delegation, Karunanidhi along with his
daughter and party MP Kanimozhi met Singh at the Raj Bhavan
here and submitted a memorandum seeking his intervention to
end attacks on Tamils in Kerala after the row erupted afresh
following Kerala`s insistence on building a new dam in place
of the 116-year-old reservoir.
"After listening to the delegation, the Prime Minister
said the Centre would take all steps to ensure the long
standing relationship between the two states is not strained
and peace and normal life returns," Karunanidhi said in a
statement.
According to Karunanidhi, Singh also said the Centre
might examine the possibility of protecting the dam by itself.
The DMK had early this month requested the chairman of the
Supreme Court appointed Empowered Committee on the dam issue
to deploy Central Industrial Security Forces at the reservoir
site, instead of Kerala police.
Alleging that the continued campaign by Kerala had
resulted in many `undesirable incidents` creating animosity
between people of the two states, the memorandum said it had
forced Tamils living in Kerala to leave that state.
It also referred to the "sentimental outburst" of affected
people of the state`s southern districts, whose irrigation
needs are met by Mullaperiyar Dam, located in Idukki district
of Kerala, but managed by Tamil Nadu on a 999 year lease.
"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 the 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.
PTI
