KUMILY: The Supreme Court-appointed three-member committee on Tuesday said that a five-member sub-committee had been constituted to monitor the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam.
The decision was taken by the three-member committee, headed by L A V Nathan, chief engineer, (Dam Safety Organisation), Central Water Commission; M Saikumar, principal secretary (Public Works), Tamil Nadu; and V J Kurian, additional chief secretary (Water Resources), Kerala, at a meeting here.
The five-member sub-committee is headed by Central Water Commission Kochi division executive engineer Umberji Harish Girish.
The other members are Kerala Irrigation Department executive engineer George Daniel, assistant engineer N S Praseed, who represents Kerala. Tamil Nadu is represented by PWD executive engineer Madhavan and sub-divisional officer Soundaram.
“The sub-committee will start visiting the Mullaperiyar dam from September 1. As per the Supreme Court ruling, it will monitor the safety of the dam, including water seepage, on a weekly basis, in the wake of the water level rising from 136 feet to 142 feet. It will also check the rainfall,” committee chairman Nathan told reporters.
“The three-member committee had last visited Kumily on July 17 as part of implementing the Supreme Court order, and had then announced its decision to form the sub-committee. The findings of the sub-committee will be presented before the three-member committee,” Nathan said.
“The three-member committee will hold its next meeting at Kumily on September 26. If the water level of the dam rises above 130 feet before September 26 the three-member committee would visit the dam before that date,” he added.
The meeting also decided to speed-up the construction of road to the Mullaperiyar dam through Vallakadavu in the Periyar Tiger Reserve.