Chennai: Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa on Thursday urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to direct the union ministry of environment of forests to desist from entertaining Kerala on its proposal to construct a new Mullaiperiyar dam in Idukki district.
Ms Jayalalithaa, in her letter to the PM, said the government of Kerala had, in utter violation of the recent order of the Supreme Court’s constitution bench, sought the Centre’s approval for an environmental impact assessment study for construction of a new Mullaiperiyar dam. This act of Kerala is in contempt of Supreme Court’s recent order.
The letter further explained that Mullaiperiyar dam is structurally, hydrologically and seismically safe. The review petition filed by the government of Kerala against the Decree of the Supreme Court dated 7.5.2014 had been dismissed on December 2, 2014.
Therefore, when a finality has been reached in the Mullaiperiyar dam issue, the Kerala government is seeking to subvert the order of the apex court by stealth, seeking approval of the terms of reference to conduct an environmental impact The TN government had already filed an interlocutory application in the SC, seeking to restrain Kerala from conducting an environmental impact assessment study and also reserved its right to file a contempt plea in the SC and this matter has been adjourned to July 2015, by the apex court, the letter read.
At this juncture, it is understood that the MOEF had in a meeting examined the terms of reference suggested by Kerala for conducting an environmental impact assessment study for construction of a new Mullaiperiyar dam.
Though the MOEF, has informed through the press information bureau’s press release that no approval has been granted for carrying out impact assessment study for construction of a new dam in Idukki, I would like to point out that the very fact of entertaining Kerala’s request and considering the same by the Union government and approving the terms of reference to conduct an EIA study itself a gross violation of the SC decree, the CM noted.
“Under the circumstances, I seek your personal intervention and request you to instruct the MOEF to desist from entertaining Kerala. I look forward to your immediate positive response in this matter,” the letter added.
