Tamil Nadu, Kerala talks on river water sharing issue today

“Two teams of officials and experts formed by the State government to solve the pending disputes related to Parambikulam-Aliyar Project (PAP) and Pandiya Punnampuzha Project (PPP) will hold the second round of talks with Kerala officials on Friday. The outcome of the talks will be revealed only after the talks conclude,” said sources in the Secretariat.

To solve the inter-State water dispute with Kerala, Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami met his counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan in Thiruvananthapuram, in September 2019. Both the leaders held talks related to pending water disputes between the two southern states. Palaniswami had described his meeting with Vijayan as an “excellent start” and indicated that dialogue was the way forward to iron out differences. It was the first meeting between the chief ministers of the two states in 15 years.

In 2004, the then Chief Ministers late J Jayalalithaa and Oommen Chandy had met in Chennai.

Following the meeting, Tamil Nadu formed two teams, one for PAP and another for PPP.

After the two teams were formed, officials from Kerala met officials of PWD in Chennai, in the first round of talks held in December, last year. Tamil Nadu officials were expected to go to Kerala in April, this year, but due to COVID-19 pandemic the meeting was delayed by five months.