The State has demanded a safety review of the Mullaperiyar dam before a Supreme Court-appointed supervisory committee gives permission to repair it. According to sources, the State put forth the demand at a meeting comprising representatives of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and the Central Water Commission here on Thursday evening. However, the Tamil Nadu members said that the safety review should be conducted only after strengthening the baby dam.
Earlier in the day, the committee visited the Mullaperiyar dam, following a directive of the apex court. In the morning, the team travelled from the Thekkady boat landing station to the Mullaperiyar dam by boat. The team inspected the main dam, baby dam, gallery, and spillway shutters. The team also inspected the road connecting Vallakkadavu to Mullaperiyar. The meeting was held at Kumily after the visit.
Rakesh Kashyap, the chairman of the supervisory committee and Central Water Commission member, said the committee was directed to inspect the technical issues of the dam. The meeting did not discuss a new dam, he added.
According to sources, in the meeting, the Tamil Nadu panel members discussed the repairs of the dam. However, the Kerala panel chairman demanded that a safety review of the dam be conducted and then discuss to allow the permission for repairing works. According to sources, the safety review consists of instrumentation, geodetic survey and uplift pressure measurement of the dam. The supervisory panel is yet to take a decision on the safety review.
Approval to cut trees
Sources said that in the panel meeting, Tamil Nadu demanded permission to cut trees to strengthen the baby dam. The Kerala representatives said that the issue was under the Forest department.
Apart from Mr. Kashyap the supervisory committee consists of Ashok Kumar Singh, Secretary of Water Resources; Priyesh R., Irrigation Department Chief Engineer; Tamil Nadu Public Works Department (PWD) secretary Sandeep Saxena; Kaveri Cell Chairman R. Subrahmanyan; James Wilson, Chief Engineer (Investigation and Construction Central) in-charge, KSEB.
However, the police blocked mediapersons from covering the supervisory panel’s journey from the Thekkady boat landing to the Mullaperiyar dam.
Published - June 13, 2024 09:21 pm IST
