New Delhi: The Kerala government on Monday assured the Supreme Court that additional police force would be deployed for the protection of Mullaperiyar dam and that there was no need for deployment of Central Industrial Security Force as it would alter the situation.
Senior counsel Rajeev Dhavan, appearing for Kerala told a bench of Chief Justice H.L. Dattu and Justice Arun Mishra “we will put more police force and will allow those officials who were approved by the expert panel appointed to monitor the dam.” The bench after hearing senior counsel Rakesh Diwedi, for Tamil Nadu posted the matter for further hearing in July.
In its application and rejoinder, TN referred to an incident on November 17, 2014 wherein Biju Mol, a Kerala MLA, along with a group of Kerala journalists, visited the dam without any prior permission. The executive engineer of the TN at the dam site informed the local MLA that she could inspect the dam, but the journalists could not visit it. He was even pushed by a few scribes.
Contending that Kerala had miserably failed in its solemn assurance and obligations to protect the dam, TN reiterated its plea for a direction for deployment of CISF for the protection of the dam and its structure. Kerala however opposed the plea and said a mechanism for the security of the Mullaperiyar Dam will be put in place, as it has been decided.
