Halt neighbours’ dam plans, OPS urges Centre

Stating that such a move was necessary to safeguard the drinking water availability of various regions of the state, Paneerselvam said the Kerala government’s move to construct six check dams across the Bhavani would deprive the people of Tirupur, Coimbatore, Karur and Erode of drinking water. Kerala has already built a dam across the Bhavani at Thekkuvattai and has now started work on another at Mankakandi across the same river, he said in a statement. 

Similarly, the Karnataka government’s Hoganekal project and the AP government’s move to build a dam across the Palar river would affect the drinking water availability for locals, he added. 

It may be recalled that DMK and several other parties staged a massive protest on Tamil Nadu-Kerala border two days ago in protest against the Kerala government’s move to construct dams across the Bhavani. Their attempt to march into Kerala was foiled by police. Due to the protest the entire inter-state highway connect between Kerala and Tamil Nadu came to a standstill.