KOCHI: In a significant order, the Mullaiperiyar Supervisory Committee constituted by the Supreme Court has accepted Kerala’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 the 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.
During Monday’s meeting of the supervisory committee, 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 Tamil Nadu, the Dam Safety Act of 2021 mandated to conduct 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 the next review was due in 2021. In a status report submitted before the Supreme Court in 2022, the CWC had said that the studies by empowered committee concluded that Mullaiperiyar 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 Wayanad landslides on July 30.
Prepare action plan based on dam break analysis, says Kerala
Political parties and social organisations had launched protests demanding the 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 Mullaiperiyar 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 works 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 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.