KOCHI: In a major victory for Kerala, the Mullaperiyar Supervisory Committee constituted by the Supreme Court accepted the state’s demand and ordered a safety review of the 129-year-old masonry gravity dam within 12 months.
The committee will meet after two months to finalise the panel of experts to carry out the review. Kerala has demanded inclusion of independent experts of international stature in the panel. After constituting the panel, the committee has to frame the terms of reference to initialise the process for safety review.
In Monday’s meeting, Kerala insisted on conducting the safety review immediately, while Tamil Nadu argued that it should be allowed to complete the interim strengthening of the dam first. According to TN, the Dam Safety Act of 2021 mandated the conduct of safety review of major dams once in five years, and the next review is due only in 2026. However, Kerala argued that the last safety review was conducted in 2011, and next review was due in 2021.
Panel’s decision a big relief for Kerala: Min
In a status report submitted before the Supreme Court in 2022, the Central Water Commission (CWC) had said that the studies by the empowered committee concluded that the Mullaperiyar dam was found to be hydrologically, structurally and seismically safe. However, it said the safety review of the dam was due in 2021.
Kerala toughened its stand on safety review as concerns were raised regarding the strength of the dam after the devastating landslides in Wayanad on July 30. Political parties and social organisations had launched protests demanding construction of a new dam to alleviate the fears of the people living downstream and to ensure water for Tamil Nadu.
The last safety review of Mullaperiyar dam was conducted in 2011 and the report was published in 2014. Though representatives of the state were included in the panel, Kerala had alleged that some key facts regarding material testing were not shared with the state.
Supervisory committee chairman Rakesh Kashyap had earlier said there was no need to link maintenance work with safety review. However, Kerala insisted that the demand for maintenance work can be considered only after finalising the schedule for a comprehensive assessment of dam safety. Kerala has been demanding to review the structural safety, strength to withstand earthquake, flood safety and operational safety of the dam based on experiments. Another demand is to prepare an emergency action plan based on a dam break analysis.
CWC member and supervisory committee chairman Rakesh Kashyap presided over the meeting on Monday. Principal secretary B Ashok and irrigation chief engineer R Priyesh represented Kerala while additional chief secretary Dr K Manivasan and Kaveri technical cell chairman R Subrahmanian represented Tamil Nadu.
Welcoming the decision of the supervisory committee, Kerala Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine said the state wanted to ensure the safety of the people and water for Tamil Nadu.
“The decision of the supervisory committee comes as a big relief for Kerala as the state has been concerned about the safety of the people living in downstream areas. A panel of independent experts should conduct the safety review. If the assessment proves Kerala’s argument, it will justify the state’s stand in the Supreme Court,” he said.
“Kerala should ensure that scientific tests are conducted to evaluate the dam safety. The state should collect evidence to substantiate its stand,” said Mullaperiyar case litigant Dr Joe Joseph.