Kerala Takes Tamil Nadu To Court, Alleges Neighbour Did Not Do Enough To Control Water Flow

The Kerala government yesterday (23 August) filed a case in the Supreme Court of India alleging that Tamil Nadu ignored its pleas to control water flow during the floods that devastated south India last week.

Kerala has criticised its eastern neighbour for not cooperating with it on releasing dam water from the Mullaperiyar Dam that is located in the western state but operated by Tamil Nadu. A government employee said that had Tamil Nadu released water from the Mullaperiyar earlier, it would have prevented a lot of flooding in Kerala along the banks of the Periyar river.

The affidavit filed by Kerala said that it had asked Tamil Nadu to start releasing water without waiting for the reservoir to reach its full capacity and claimed that no positive assurance was received from the latter. It then added that the sudden release of water from the Mullaperiyar forced the government to release more water from the Idukki reservoir, located further downstream that resulted in the flooding.

Kerala also sought for a management committee to look after daily operations at the Mullaperiyar Dam.