Chennai: Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday conveyed its objection to Kerala's "unilateral action" of commencing work on the construction of a dam across river Pambar, as Chief Minister O Panneerselvam wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in this regard.
"This unilateral action of the government of Kerala in having commenced the work for the construction of a Dam across the river Pambar at Pattisserry without obtaining prior concurrence of the government of Tamil Nadu will affect natural flow of the river Pambar and consequently river Amaravathy that in turn will diminish the flows to Tamil Nadu.
"Therefore, the government of Tamil Nadu conveys its strong objection to the unilateral commencement of work for construction of a Dam by Kerala across the river Pambar at Pattisserry without obtaining the prior concurrence of Tamil Nadu," Panneerselvam told Modi in a letter.
The move was "yet another instance" where Kerala attempted to violate the Final Order of the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, "seriously jeopardising" the rights of the lower riparian Tamil Nadu and affecting livelihood of farmers dependent on the waters of the Cauvery river and its tributaries like Bhavani and Amaravathy, he said.
Pambar was a tributary of the river Amaravathty, which in turn was a main tributary of Cauvery, he said, adding, Kerala's move had caused great concern and anxiety among the people of Tamil Nadu dependent on waters of the Cauvery Basin including Amaravathy for irrigation and drinking water supply.
Kerala has commenced the work for laying the foundation for construction of the dam at Pattisserry and Tamil Nadu apprehended that the construction work would proceed in full swing and once the permanent structure comes up, its lower riparian rights would be "irretrievably compromised," he said.
He recalled that Tamil Nadu government had filed an Interlocutory Application in November 2014 in the Supreme Court to restrain Kerala from proceeding with the construction of a dam across Pambar at Pattiseri "which is within the Cauvery basin and to maintain status quo and also not to proceed with the execution of any project, until the Cauvery Management Board (CMB) is constituted and without the specific consent of the Government of Tamil Nadu."
The matter was pending in the apex court, he said while recalling he had earlier also taken up the matter with Modi, besides enclosing a resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly, among others, urging the Centre to advise Kerala not to execute any work for the construction of the dam and also that no scheme should be taken up by it till the CMB was constituted, besides getting its concurrence.
