Kerala won't allow linking its rivers with TN's: Antony

Kerala would not allow implementation of the proposal to link Pampa and Achankovil rivers with the Vaipar in Tamil Nadu as part of the national river-grid project, Chief Minister A K Antony said.

Kerala would not allow under any circumstance implementation of the proposal to link Pampa and Achankovil rivers with the Vaipar in Tamil Nadu as part of the national river-grid project, Chief Minister A K Antony said in the state assembly on Tuesday.

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"Under the Constitution, nobody can stake claim over the rivers within the jurisdiction of the state. Pampa and Achankovil rivers are our property and we will not allow others to claim a drop of water from them," Antony said in reply to a calling attention by Raju Abraham (CPI-M).

The state had informed the Prime Minister, Chairman of the Taskforce on River-Linking Project and the parliamentary consultative committee concerned of its position in unambiguous terms, Antony said.

Referring to the charge that Tamil Nadu had plans to divert Achankovil waters by building a dam across the Hanuman canal, Antony said it was within that state's right to build dams in its area. But Kerala was at a loss to know why a dam was being built in an area where there was no water source available, he said.