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Mullaperiyar dam: Jayalalithaa questions Centre for entertaining Kerala's request

June 11, 2015

Chennai, Jun 11: Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has questioned the Centre for "entertaining" Kerala's request for approving environment study to construct a new dam at Mullaperiyar in her state, saying it was in contravention to the Supreme Court order.

JayalalithaaIn a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, she said the approval of Terms of Reference to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the construction of a new dam at Mullaperiyar, was in "gross violation" of a Supreme Court order on this issue.

She also sought Modi's intervention in the matter.

In a letter dated June 10, Jayalalithaa said this was in "violation of the Constitution Bench Order of the Supreme Court," as Kerala was seeking Centre's approval" for the Environmental Impact Assessment study for construction of the new dam in place of the existing structure.

Kerala's act was in "utter contempt" of the May 2014 Supreme Court order which had held that the existing Mullaperiyar Dam was structurally, hydrologically and seismically safe and had "negatived in unequivocal terms, the offer of Kerala for the construction of a new Mullaperiyar Dam", she said.

Kerala's review petition on this issue had also been dismissed and a "finality" reached on the matter but the state government was "seeking to subvert" the apex court order by "stealth", seeking approval of the Terms of Reference to conduct the Environmental Impact Assessment study, she said.

The Tamil Nadu government's interlocutory application in Supreme Court seeking to restrain Kerala from conducting the study was scheduled to come up next month, Jayalalithaa said in the letter which was released by the government today.

At this juncture, it was "understood" that the Union Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, had, in a meeting, examined the Terms of Reference suggested by Kerala for conducting the study for construction of a new Mullaperiyar Dam, she said.

She said the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change, has informed vide the Press Information Bureau's press release dated 4.6.2015, that no approval has been granted for carrying out Environmental Impact Assessment study for construction of a new Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki District of Kerala.

However,".... I would like to point out that the very fact of entertaining the Government of Kerala's request and considering the same by the Government of India for approving the Terms of Reference to conduct an Environmental Impact Assessment Study for the construction of a new dam is itself a gross violation of the Decree and Order of the Supreme Court dated 7.5.2014."

"In fact, the Government of India should have desisted from entertaining and considering the proposal and ought to have remitted the proposal back to the Government of Kerala," she said.

Under "these circumstances", Jayalalithaa sought Modi's personal intervention, requesting him to instruct the Ministry of Environment, Forests & Climate Change and its agencies, "to desist from entertaining and considering the proposal of Kerala government in future and also to negative to the proposal and return it to Kerala."

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Mumbai, May 4: Days after Facebook, private equity firm Silver Lake said it will invest 56.56 billion rupees ($746.74 million) in Reliance Industries's digital arm, giving it a valuation of 4.90 trillion rupees. Silver Lake on Monday agreed to pay Rs 5,655.75 crore to buy 1.15 per cent stake in the firm that houses billionaire Mukesh Ambani's telecom arm Jio.

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Agencies
July 30,2020

Chennai, Jul 30: Tamil Nadu government on Thursday extended the Covid-19 lockdown till August 31, giving only a few relaxations like allowing delivery of non-essential goods by e-commerce sites. The ban on public transport has been extended till August 31, while availing of e-pass for inter-district and inter-state travel will continue to be in force.

In a detailed statement, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami announced a “complete lockdown” during which only essential services would continue to be in force on all Sundays during the month of August across the state.  

In Chennai, restaurants will be allowed to open dine-in facilities at 50 percent of its total capacity from 6 am to 7 pm from August 1, while vegetable shops, grocery outlets and standalone commercial establishments will also be allowed to remain open from 6 am to 7 pm.

E-commerce sites have been allowed to begin delivery of non-essential goods from August 1, while the ban on public transport, temples in urban areas and towns, cinema halls, shopping malls, and gyms would continue till August 31.

It also said companies or factories in Chennai that have been allowed to function with 50 percent of staff can increase their strength to 75 percent from August 1.

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The government also asked companies to encourage its employees to work from home and advised commercial establishments to follow the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) as advised by it. Inter-state or inter-district travel will be allowed only with e-pass, while ban on metro and suburban trains continues.

The decision to extend the lockdown till August 31 comes as Tamil Nadu continues to grapple with an increasing number of coronavirus cases. The prevalence of the virus is no more limited to one city or region of the state with almost all districts reporting fresh cases, some of them over 200 new patients, every day.

On Thursday morning, Tamil Nadu’s Covid-19 tally was 2,34,114 including 1,72,883 discharges and 3,741 deaths. The active cases stood at 57,490.

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Agencies
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The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange also lost nearly 850 points so far. It plunged 868.25 points to 9,590.15.

The plunge was in line with the global markets as all Asian indices also traded in the red after the World Health Organization (WHO) declared coronavirus a global pandemic following which the Dow Jones Industrial Average also slumped significantly on Wednesday.

The bear run in both the global and domestic markets has continued off late on concerns of the coronavirus outbreak severely impacting the global economy. It has also raised calls for government intervention and support.

Central banks in several countries, including the US Federal Reserve have announced emergency rate cuts to boost sentiments. However, the concerns have only deepened in the past few days as the number of COVID-19 cases across the world has increased.

Further, following the rout in the global markets oil prices also fell on Thursday with the Brent crude trading around $34 per barrel.

The Indian rupee also felt the pressure and touched a 17-month low of 74.34 per dollar in its initial trade.

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