Madurai: To strengthen the arms of the TN government in restoring the level of the Mullaiperiyar dam to 142 feet in accordance with the top court order, Periyar-Vaigai farmers’ association is considering approaching court to preempt any move from the Kerala forest department to hamper restoration work.
“In case of operating the shutters manually to lower them to restore the level, the Kerala forest department should allow men and materials to the dam site. But even under normal circumstances, the forest personnel do not permit our engineers to carry out annual maintenance works,” says K.M.Abbas, the association president.
Farmers benefitted by Mullaiperiyar water, senior engineers and retired judges are meeting at Madras University in Chennai on Thursday to deliberate on the issues relating to the dam. “We will take a decision on moving either the Kerala or Madras high court seeking a specific order to the Kerala forest department not to act in a manner that would disrupt restoring the level at the meeting,” Mr Abbas said.
The meeting will also discuss the nine demands including strengthening of the baby dam to restore the level to its original 152 feet, laying road from Vallakadavu to the dam site and providing electricity to the dam and decide on the next course of action.
Both the farmers and the PWD engineers are looking up to chief minister Jayalalithaa to issue an order to close the 13 vents to store water up to 142 feet. On May 7, the Supreme Court struck down a law enacted by Kerala and restrained it from obstructing the TN government to restore the water level.
Soon after the order, Ms Jayalalithaa appointed R. Subramanian, chairman of Cauvery Technical Cell, as the TN representative to the apex court-appointed committee tasked with supervising restoration of water to 142 feet. She sent a letter to the Union water resources ministry requesting appointment of representatives by the Centre and Kerala. The latter recently appointed its retired PWD engineer Kurien. The Centre is expected to select its representative soon.
Given that Kerala has appointed its representative after change of guard at the Centre, Tamil Nadu hopes that the situation is favourable for implementing the order and the Congress-led Kerala government has no other option but to abide by the directive this time.
Meanwhile, the Periyar division of the PWD is ready to close the vents either manually or with the help of generators any time. “We are given to understand that the 3-member committee, once fully formed, will inspect the site before our government issues an order to lower the shutters. If the order is issued before the onset of the monsoon expected in the beginning of June, then storage can be increased,” a PWD engineer said.
