Thiruvananthapuram, July 24 - The Kerala assembly Friday passed unanimously a resolution demanding that the central government take the lead in resolving the Mullaperiyar dam issue, allowing the state government to construct a new dam and decommissioning the existing one.

Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads over the present Mullaperiyar dam built under an agreement signed in 1886 between the then maharaja of Travancore and the British administration. The agreement granted the then Madras Presidency the right to construct and maintain the dam and divert the water to irrigate arid lands in the Madurai region.

State Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran, who initiated a discussion on Mullaperiyar, said there is no need for Tamil Nadu to be worried because the new dam would be built downstream of the Periyar river.

'We are not infringing into the rights of Tamil Nadu and it is unfortunate that they have taken a unilateral stand against this.