By IANS,
Chennai : Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J.Jayalalithaa Monday said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is yet to respond to her letter asking for deployment of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to protect the Mullaperiyar earthen dam in Kerala.
She also ruled out the need for special session of the state assembly to discuss the dam issue.
Speaking to reporters here, she said: “I have written to the prime minister to deploy CISF security but yet to get a reply from him.”
On Sunday, Jayalalithaa, citing the mob attack on the over a century-old masonry dam in neighbouring Kerala that supplies water to Tamil Nadu, urged the prime minister to deploy the CISF at the dam site “to avert any man-made catastrophic consequences”.
Queried about the convening a special session of the state assembly to discuss the issue, Jayalalithaa said there was no need for that as all the parties are united on this aspect.
She also said additional security will be deployed on the border with Kerala.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads over the Mullaperiyar Dam, built under a 999-year lease agreement signed in 1886 between the then Maharaja of Travancore and the erstwhile British administration.
The dam, located in Kerala’s Idukki district, serves Tamil Nadu, which is demanding that its height be raised from 136 feet (41.5 m) to 142 feet (43 m) to meet the increasing demand of water for irrigation.
Kerala, however, is seeking construction of a new dam, saying the existing structure had outlived its life.