Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa has written to her Andhra counterpart N Chandrababu Naidu expressing concern over AP’s unilateral action of increasing the height of the check dam across Palar river near the AP-TN border.
The dam is located at Perumballam village, in Chithoor District.
In a strongly worded letter, she says that this unilateral action by the irrigation department of AP has caused widespread alarm and panic in Tamil Nadu for which it lodges its strong protest against the AP government.
This is because as the letter states, “You will appreciate that Palar is a River which is already deficient in water supply. This river supports an ayacut (an area served by an irrigation project) of about 4.20 lakh acres in Tamil Nadu. Farmers in the Northern Districts of Tamil Nadu solely depend upon this River for irrigation. The Palar River with its sand strata is the only major source for drinking water supply to several towns and villages in the Northern Districts of Tamil Nadu. Further, water from Palar is also supplied to the Atomic Power Station at Kalpakkam.
“I wish to point out that the Palar River which is an inter-State River is one of the Rivers mentioned in Schedule “A” annexed to the Madras-Mysore Agreement, 1892. As per Clause II of the Agreement, the upstream State should not, without the previous consent of the downstream State of Tamil Nadu, build any anaicut or any structure to obstruct, divert or store the waters of the River across any part of the fifteen main rivers, named in Schedule “A” appended to the Agreement.”
The letter further points out that on February 10, 2006, a suit was filed by the Govt. of Tamil Nadu in the Supreme Court seeking to prevent the AP government from constructing any structure across the River Palar or at any place through which the river flows in violation of the Madras-Mysore Agreement, 1892.
You can read the Agreement here.
Jayalalithaa has requested Naidu to personally intervene in the matter and issue instructions to the officials concerned to take appropriate steps to decrease the level of the check dam to its original level.