Mullaperiyar: Roadblocks off, deadlock on

The face-off between Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the Mullaperiyar issue continued on Friday, even as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi called off his partymen’s blocking of roads to Kerala and staging protests, reportedly at the Centre’s suggestion.

The face-off between Kerala and Tamil Nadu in the Mullaperiyar issue continued on Friday, even as Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi called off his partymen’s blocking of roads to Kerala and staging protests, reportedly at the Centre’s suggestion.

Calling off the agitating DMK men from the roads to Kerala, Karunanidhi said road blockades and stoppage of essential commodities to Kerala would harm good neighbourly relations with it. The blockade had hit the movement of vegetables and rice and other foodstuff to Kerala, for which the state greatly depends on its neighbour. Shops on the Kerala side of the border in Kumili remained shut today in a spontaneous hartal to protest the road blockade in Tamil Nadu.

Almost all roads between the two states had been blocked and buses of the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation’s plying to Tamil Nadu stoned, forcing the suspension of bus services.

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A delegation of Kerala MPs called on Prime Minister Manmohan Singh this morning to protest the “provocative” actions of Tamil Nadu in the Mullaperiyar issue and present their state’s arguments.

“The issue is not water. But the safety of lakhs of people. We have no problem in giving water to Tamil Nadu, but it should not be at the cost of lakhs of lives,” said Idukki MP Francis George, in whose constituency the dam is situated.

CPI(M) sources in Kerala said general secretary Prakash Karat had talked to both Karunanidhi and his Kerala counterpart VS Achuthanandan today seeking to avert more provocations from either side. The sources claimed that Karunanidhi, who had threatened to boycott the talks slated for next Wednesday to sort out the dam tangle, has agreed to take part.