THEKKADY: Seepage at the Mullaiperiyar dam is minimal and the dam is stable after the height was raised to 142 feet, the Supreme Court-appointed Monitoring Committee has said. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of a review meeting, committee chairman A L V Nathan on Monday said the dam is stable like any other after the level was raised. “Henceforth, the State government need not ask the Monitoring Committee about raising the water level to 142 feet,” he said.
When asked about the seepage issue in the dam, Nathan said the seepage is minimal and even that was only at a few places in the dam. “That is normal like any other dam and it only shows the dam is in good condition.”
Nathan also stated that the committee’s responsibility was only to supervise the increase in water level and that they could not make any suggestions on strengthening the dam or increasing the water level to 152 feet.
Meanwhile, additional chief secretary of Kerala V J Kurian said the government was against the deployment of CISF at the dam site. Nathan said the Kerala government had also expressed disagreement to the deployment of Tamil Nadu police at the dam site.
When the committee discussed recent untoward incidents at the dam site, the Kerala representative said police personnel strength would be increased and that it would record all visitors through a separate register, said Nathan.
Meanwhile, Tamil Nadu PWD principal secretary M Saikumar instructed PWD officials not to allow Kerala MLAs and MPs inside the dam.