Pinarayi invites TN CM to review water sharing agreement

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala has invited Tamil Nadu to hold talks with the state to review the Parabikulam-Aliyar project water sharing agreement.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a letter to his Tamil Nadu counterpart E K Palaniswamy, invited him for talks to review the agreement.

Pointing out that Tamil Nadu had repeatedly ‘violated’ the existing river water sharing accord, he said coexistence would be smooth only when parties in the agreement respect the conditions.

“It has caused concern as Tamil Nadu is violating the PAP agreement in the wake of state facing a severe drought condition,” Vijayan said.

The Chief Minister said Tamil Nadu should release water as per the PAP agreement to meet the drinking water shortage in Palakkad area.

Vijayan also pointed out that during water year 2016-17, Chittor river area in Kerala should have received 6,350 million cubic feet of water, but got only 3.762 million cubic feet.

“This water is used only for meeting the drinking water purposes of the local people’, he said.

The Chief Minister also alleged that Tamil Nadu had blocked a large quantity of water as backup storage due to the state, at dams in the upper reaches of Aliyar and Kadampara.

PAP has to be reviewed from time to time and so to discuss the matter, he said and asked his Tamil Nadu counterpart to suggest dates for a meeting.