While observing the 50th death anniversary of C P Ramaswami Iyer, the renowned Indian lawyer, administrator and politician, the Nilgiri Documentation Center here has called for the formation of a tri-states peace mission to “solve recurring inter-state disputes among Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala.”
“ Sir C.P.Ramaswamy Iyer was a pioneer in dam building and interlinking of rivers in the 1930s. In Ooty, people from Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka have been living in exemplary harmony for nearly 200 years,” said Dharmaligam Venugopal, Director of Nilgiri Documentation Centre, who said that the peace mission can be forum for promoting cooperation in natural resource management, tourism and wildlife promotion among the three contiguous states.
The meeting proposed to send goodwill missions to the three states. Those who are part of the missions will meet with political leaders, officials and civil society to press the case, for the need of such a mission which will lead to long term growth for all three states.
The meeting resolved that being “historically, culturally and economically interlinked,” they have little reason for the disputes and also agreed that water management practices have been neglected, leading to water shortage crises and flooding.
Conservation of water recharging sources like grasslands, shola forests and wetlands as well as reprioritising water use and management in the Nilgiris to provide for future needs, was also stressed upon.
The meeting was chaired by J. Balakrishnan, retired school master and attended by Sister Stella Baltazar, Correspondent of Nazareth Convent, Jayachandran of Tamil Nadu Greens Movement, Sivadas of Nilgiri Environment and Social Trust, Janardanan of Public Awareness Association, Bhoopathy of Kotagiri Wildlife Association and Solur Ganesan of Malai Saral.
