THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: While the Tamil Nadu Government has pooh-poohed the IIT Roorkee’s seismic hazard study report, the scientists who did the study have reiterated that they stand by the report that the Mullaperiyar dam is seismically unsafe. ‘‘If Tamil Nadu says there is something wrong with the report, let them scientifically point out, point by point, what is wrong with our report,’’ said Dr D K Paul, who led the study.
The study carried out in two phases by Dr Paul, Dr M L Sharma and Dr Pankaj Agarwal, had stated that the dam will not survive the earthquake forces even at a water level of 136 ft.
‘‘And if they say our report has only the value of paper, then that’s all the value that we give to what they say too,’’ said Paul. The IIT Roorkee is one of the premier institutes in the country studying the seismological safety of dams and had submitted seismological safety reports of several dams, including the Tehri Dam to the Supreme Court. It may be recalled that the Tamil Nadu Government had reacted in a very similar knee-jerk manner to the IIT Delhi report which said that the dam is hydrologically unsafe.
Dr A K Gosain and Dr Subash Chander of IIT Delhi had submitted a report that the Mullaperiyar dam cannot withstand any floods and that it is hydrologically unsafe, with the existing spillway capacity. Tamil Nadu had totally rejected the report without scientifically countering any of the points put forth by the report.
The members of the Mullaperiyar special cell constituted by the Government of Kerala said that this time around Tamil Nadu is purely citing technical reasons. ‘‘To accept this study as evidence, the experts should come as witness to the court. The IIT Rourkee has different set of rules when compared to IIT Delhi and the scientists who carry out a number of studies for a number of organisations might find it difficult to come to the court for every such instance,’’ said James Wilson, member of the Mullaperiyar special cell.
However Dr A K Gosain of IIT Delhi had appeared as a witness for Kerala in the Supreme Court. ‘‘This seismic hazard study report has been submitted as a supporting document only, which is why Tamil Nadu is saying that it has only paper value,’’ said James Wilson. Legal sources, however, said that the Supreme Court will not be able to totally neglect the seismic safety report of the IIT Roorkee, even if Tamil Nadu clamours for it.