State to lodge protest today

KOCHI: Taking up the issue of negative approach by the expert team members C D Thatte and D K Mehta during the Mullaperiyar dam inspection last week, Kerala will file a complaint before the Empowered Committee, which will meet in New Delhi on Monday.On December 24, members of the Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee Thatte and Mehta inspected the dam.Representing Kerala, Mullaperiyar cell Chairman M K Parameswaran Nair, member James Wilson and Irrigation Chief Engineer P Lathika, were present during the inspection.The officials from the state felt that Thatte then behaved like Tamil Nadu’s spokesperson. He reportedly gave instructions to TN officials on the measures to be taken for strengthening the dam.While Kerala protested, Thatte asked the Irrigation Chief Engineer to keep quiet. In protest, Kerala boycotted the inspection.Later, the Mullaperiyar cell filed a report on the issue before Chief Minister Oommen Chandy.This report would be submitted as Kerala’s complaint before the Empowered Committee by state’s counsel Rajeev Dhawan.The state has also sought legal advice in this regard from advocate Harish Salve.“The Empowered Committee is actually meeting to discuss the issue of bringing down the water level at the dam to 120 ft. When we approached the apex court for the same, the court had asked to file it before the Empowered Committee. However, following the developments during Thatte’s visit, the state decided to take up this issue also. There was a clear negative attitude towards Kerala,” Parameswaran Nair said.