PM, Jaya discuss dam and N-plant

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrived here on Sunday evening on a two-day visit and met Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa at the Raj Bhavan.Governor K. Rosaiah, the chief minister, her cabinet colleagues and leaders of the Congress party gave him a warm welcome at the airport.Sources say the chief minister took up “various important issues” of the state with the prime minister.Topping that list were talks on the on-going row between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the Mullaperiyar Dam, sources add. At the meeting, protests over the Kudankulam nuclear plant were also discussed.The state has also requested the Centre to allocate funds for development activities, sources say. This is the first visit by Singh to the state after the ADMK headed by Jayalalithaa stormed to power ousting DMK, a key UPA partner, in the April assembly elections.Jayalalithaa is upset with the central government for not heeding her requests for financial assistance, supply more power and increase kerosene allocation to the state.DMK chief M. Karunanidhi had announced on Saturday that he would meet the prime minister on Monday and take up the dam row, particularly “preventing attacks against Tamils” in Kerala and increasing the water level of the dam.The dam row has escalated in recent weeks with leaders of both states engaged in a war of words. Kerala is insisting on a new dam to replace the existing 116-year-old structure, citing safety concerns which Tamil Nadu opposes. Jayalalithaa has written four letters to the prime minister since the issue resurfaced late last month and has taken exception to the National Disaster Management Authority’s move forming a team of experts to draw up a contingency response plan for the dam, saying it was nothing but “succumbing to the subterfuge” of Kerala.Karunanidhi had expressed dissatisfaction over the action taken by the Centre and the state government on the issue. On the Kudankulam issue, the prime minister’s recent remarks that the plant would be operationalised in a few weeks did not go well with Jayalalithaa who asked the Centre to allay people’s fears before taking any “precipitate” action.Villagers in and around Kudankulam have been demanding scrapping of the project citing safety concerns. The Tamil Nadu cabinet has urged the central government to stop all work at the project site till the fears are allayed.Manmohan Singh’s comments during his recent Russian visit that the first reactor at Kundankulam would be made operational in two weeks time did not go down well with Jayalalithaa.Jayalalithaa wrote to the prime minister that she was “amazed” to see such comments being made and reminded him of the cabinet resolution. But protests by villagers over safety concerns stalled all project-related activitiesNuclear Power Corp of India Ltd (NPCIL) is building two 1,000 MW atomic power reactors at Kudankulam in Tirunelveli district, 650 kilometres from Chennai, at an outlay of Rs131.71 million.The first unit was slated to be commissioned in December.Some political parties and organisations including actor Vijaykanth’s DMDK, the principal opposition party in the state assembly, and Vaiko’s MDMK have announced black flag demonstrations against the prime minister protesting Centre’s ‘silence’ on the dam issue.Singh will inaugurate on Monday the 125th birth anniversary function of mathematician legend Srinivasa Ramanujan at the Madras University.He will then fly to Karaikudi in Sivaganga district, the native district of union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, to inaugurate Ramanujan Centre for Higher Mathematics at the Alagappa University and two hospitals.Security has been beefed up for the prime minister’s visit.Meanwhile, TNCC President BS Gnanadesikan asked DMDK and MDMK to withdraw their proposed protest saying the Centre and the prime minister “are taking all efforts” in the dam issue.Noting that MPs from the state had met Singh and “clearly apprised” him of Tamil Nadu’s stand, in a statement here he said “the prime minister is taking all efforts, well aware of our stand.”