THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : The Supreme Court had, in May, issued its final verdict in the Mullaperiyar case - ending a long legal dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over safety of the 120-year-old structure - by quashing Kerala’s Dam Safety Act. The SC permitted Tamil Nadu to raise the water level to 142 ft. It was pointed out that the dam was found seismically, physiologically and structurally safe.
Officials say that with one of the shutters becoming non-operational, the standard conditions based on which SC verdict was issued have changed.”Kerala has been weighing the options before us. Keeping water level at 136 ft or releasing more water to Vaigai dam which has water stored only up to 45 pc of its capacity, are the only two options to deal with the situation,” said Mullaperiyar cell chairman M K Parameswaran Nair.
Kerala has already raised the demand that Tamil Nadu should increase the water intake which is around 750 cusecs at present. On Tuesday the SC-appointed high-power monitoring committee for Mullaperiyar Dam chaired by L A V Nathan had visited the dam to assess the situation. The committee had inspected the seepage level at the reservoir and the functioning of the shutters. Though Kerala had demanded lowering of the water level, the demand was rejected. It’s in this backdrop that Kerala is planning to move the apex court.