CUMBUM: A team of officials and workers from Tamil Nadu on Tuesday began the task of plugging holes that were drilled in the Mullaiperiyar dam for testing its stability.
A team of officials, led by M Sampath Kumar, Chief Engineer, Water Resources Division of Public Works Department, Madurai Region, sailed to the Mullaiperiyar dam in a boat and reviewed the preparations as the work of plugging the holes that began on Tuesday.
In the first phase, a hole drilled at a depth of 650 feet in the Main dam was filled. The cement mixture was injected with high pressure. The hole was 132 feet deep. The work was being done with the help of engineers from a private company.
PWD sources said it would take at least three days to plug each hole in the dam. The sources added that all the holes would be plugged within 15 days, well before the onset of monsoon.
It may be noted that on the directions of the Supreme Court-appointed empowered committee on the Mullaiperiyar Dam, nine holes were drilled at various places of the dam for taking samples of the lime surkhi-mortar.
After initial opposition, the Kerala officials relented following the intervention of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa and allowed the TN officials to proceed with the work.