New dam at Attappadi: TN outfit blocks road

Around 50 activists of ‘Naam Thamizher’ blocked roads at Aanakatti in Attapadi, on the Tamil Nadu side of the border, for around one hour to protest against the construction of the dam at Chittur under the Attapadi Valley Irrigation Project(AVIP).

The proposed site for the project had been acquired by the Kerala Water Resources Department more than two decades ago.

The activists were dressed in black attire. They were later removed by the police.

The Tamil Nadu police had placed a contingent at Aanakatti under the leadership of three superintendents of police Murugaraj, Balaji and Shanmughan.

State co-ordinator and district secretary of Naam Thamizhar, Kesavadasan and Elamaaran, addressed the gathering. They demanded that Kerala should desist from the move to build a new dam at the site.

Owing to security reasons, the Kerala police did not allow motorists to leave Aanakatti to the Tamil Nadu side till 2 pm.

However, the situation returned to normal soon afterwards and there were no untoward incidents.