EPS vows to stop Andhra Pradesh from building dams across Palar

Replying to the call attention motion brought in by the Opposition MLAs, the Chief Minister said that the government has asked the state of Andhra Pradesh not to take up construction of 30 new check-dams on the river and has pointed out pending litigations in this regard with the Supreme Court. 

“According to the Madras-Mysore Agreement of 1892, Palar is an inter-state river and the upper riparian state cannot take up construction of dam without the consent of the lower riparian states,” he said. 

Referring to the state government’s plea pending before the Supreme Court, Palaniswami said the state had also written to the Centre insisting that the Union Water Resource Ministry intervene in the issue. We are taking both diplomatic and legal strategies to thwart the attempt of Andhra government to construct check dams across Palar, he said.

Palaniswami pointed out that the government led by the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa had moved the apex court in 2006 against a similar proposal by AP. Two cases are pending before the SC, he said. The government is “carefully” dealing with the issues related to the riparian rights of Tamil Nadu.

The DMK and Congress MLAs who raised the issue emphasised that the northern districts in the state, particularly Vellore, will be deserted if the Palar river water is diverted. “Public would starve to death without water and the districts will face acute shortage of water,” Congress MLA JG Prince said.