All of that is good, but if I read the news correctly KL was given time till this Friday to respond to questions on ownership. If TN has refused to talk on this matter for so long, there is no hope to meet with TN to make a joint declaration, no ?
Bade Mian. All the supreme court asked was responses from the respective states their views on control ,
IF (now just hypothetical) a new dam comes up.
Now , the Kerala folks and media spun it as a "step towards a new dam"
![ROTFL :rotfl:](./images/smilies/icon_rotfl.gif)
, while downplaying the REAL set back they have seen to their case in the empowered committee which is all set to declare the fears of kerala as highly exaggerated and nay even motivated and engineered, and a rejection of kerala's plea of lowering the water level to 120 ft and hence explicitly throwing out of the window Kerala's contention that that the current storage is "unsafe".
Kerala can spin all it wants, but the "35 lakh people getting washed away " and "New Dam, New Dam, Damn it, New Dam" slogans are going to run on the reefs at the supreme court. Oh, you will get assured safety all right (either they are okay with the strengthening measures , or they will okay other technical measures like new tunnel and lower permanent storage), but I doubt you will EVER get the "new agreement" that Kerala is looking for. Problem is that once the "safety bogey" is put to rest, you have no more levers to pull and get the kerala population to fall in line like lemmings to the politoco mechanizations.
For eg, why will any Mallu give a F*ck when a politico says we need to spend $x billion and build a new dam which will give water to TN and nothing at all to Kerala (not even electricity) to gain "control". Sorry, the avg mallu wont even pause from taking his sip of Kallu and drag of beedi and infact once done so will spit. It is only fear mongering that can get people worked up. So once that is put to rest, this will die down.
So , dont worry, have curry.