The Supreme Court-appointed empowered committee on Mullaperiyar dam is likely to receive a crucial study report on Monday on the safety aspect of the controversial dam. The two-technical experts of the committee, Mr C.D. Thatte and Mr D.K. Mehta, are expected to submit their report before the committee on the first day of its two-day full-bench sitting beginning on Monday.
The committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India Justice A.S. Anand, will also consider the applications and counter-applications filed by the Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments over the safety of the controversial dam. The lawyers of both the state governments will get a chance to argue their cases before the committee. The committee is expected to file its final report to the Supreme Court by February.
The Kerala government, in its application to the committee had said that the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam was under threat due to the recent tremors and incessant rain in the area. The state requested the committee to file an urgent report in the SC seeking direction to Tamil Nadu for lowering the dam’s water level from 136 feet to 120 feet.
While, the Tamil Nadu government said that the dam was as safe as a new one and the tremors had no impact on the dam as they were mild and had occurred far away from the dam.
The state also questioned the Kerala’s claim of 22 tremors having occurred in the area in four months and said there were only four tremors during that period which only marked less than 3.5 in the Richter scale.