Chennai: Assuring to protect the rights of Tamilnadu, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami today said careful legal action is being taken in the issue of Andhra Pradesh’s proposal to construct 30 new check-dams across the Palar river.
He was answering a special calling attention motion brought by the DMK in the Assembly regarding water scarcity in the State and also seeking details about the check-dams.
Palaniswami said as soon as news about the construction of the check-dams surfaced 5 February, the Tamilnadu government wrote to the Andhra Pradesh government 6 February asking it to direct its Water Resource Department not to begin work as there were several pending cases on the issue in the Supreme Court.
He cited that according to the 1892 Madras-Mysore Pact no dams or check-dams could be constructed across the inter-State rivers without the permission of the States downstream.
“On 4 January 2006 when it was said Andhra Pradesh was planning to construct a dam across the Palar in Chittoor, the then chief minister J Jayalalithaa approached the Central government to intervene and stop work. However, since there was not favourable response from the Centre and Andhra Pradesh government, a petition was filed on 10 February 2006 in the Supreme Court. The final verdict in the case is expected to be delivered in July 2019,” he said.
He further said similar petitions against the construction of check-dams across the Palar were filed 18 July 2016 and 19 November 2018 and all these cases were being closely followed by the State government.
‘PRO-POOR SCHEME’
Palaniswami said the announcement about giving Rs 2,000 to families living below the poverty line (BPL) was not made with elections in mind.
“The scheme has been announced for the benefit of poor families,” he said.
He was answering a question raised by DMK MLA Ponmudi. Deputy Chief Minster O Panneerselvam said there was nothing wrong in giving Rs 2,000 to BPL families.
“The Chief Minister has the rights to make such announcements under Rule 110,” he reminded.
DISTRIBUTED
Palaniswami said the Rs 4.67 crore, of the Rs 5 crore Adi Dravidar final rites fund, has been given to 18,692 beneficiaries. He said the government will take strict action if there were any discrepancies in the distribution of the funds.