KOCHI: Tamil Nadu on Friday approached the Supreme Court seeking permission to cut down trees located in the immediate downstream area of the baby dam at Mullaperiyar. Counsel for TN cited the orders issued by the SC in 2006 and 2014, directing Kerala to facilitate the strengthening of the baby dam.
Alleging that cancellation of the permission issued by forest department to cut down trees on November 5 amounted to contempt of court, TN submitted that for the past 16 years, Kerala has been stonewalling attempts to strengthen the baby dam.
In the plea filed on Friday, TN sought three directions to Kerala — restoration of the road from Vallakadavu to the dam site to facilitate transportation of construction materials, permission to cut down 15 trees located in the immediate downstream area of the baby dam and installing rain gauges in catchment area of the dam.
A three-member ministerial team from Tamil Nadu, which visited Mullaperiyar dam on November 5, had declared that water level in Mullaperiyar dam will be raised to 152 feet after strengthening the baby dam. Kerala has been arguing before the Supreme Court that raising the water level in the dam will increase the threat to people living in downstream areas as two days of heavy rain can fill up the dam.
The dam has a huge catchment area of 624 sq km, but the storage capacity is only 14 TMC. According to Kerala the foundation of the dam does not have the strength to withstand the Uplift pressure at full reservoir level.
Report sought on forest official’s suspension
The Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change has sought a report from Kerala chief secretary on the suspension of Chief Wildlife Warden Bennichen Thomas. In a November 24 letter, Inspector General of Forests A K Mohanthy said the ministry came to know about the suspension of Bennichen from reports. Since the ministry is the cadre controlling authority, it should be informed about the reasons for placing an officer under suspension.