KOCHI: The Kerala government has nominated Irrigation chief engineer Alex Varghese as its representative in the Mullaperiyar Supervisory Committee. The Supreme Court had directed Kerala and Tamil Nadu to nominate one technical expert each to the supervisory committee as part of steps to strengthen the panel. The court had ordered that the representative should be well-versed in dam management, reservoir operation and instrumentation.
The supervisory committee will monitor the operation of the 126-year-old dam until the regular National Dam Safety Authority becomes functional. Alex Varghese has been Kerala’s representative in the supervisory committee for the past two years and as chief engineer in charge of inter-state disputes, played a key role in presenting Kerala’s concerns over the strength of Mullaperiyar dam before the Supreme Court.
For the first time in the two-decades-long legal fight, Kerala got a favourable verdict from the Supreme Court on April 8, in which the court brought the surveillance, inspection, operation and maintenance of Mullaperiyar Dam under the supervisory committee. The court has also authorised the committee to take a call on conducting a safety review of the dam.