Mullaperiyar Dam update

The Supreme Court appointed Justice A S Anand-led panel has concluded that the existing Mullaperiyar dam is safe on hydrologic, structural and seismic counts. It has observed that the full reservoir level lowered in 1979 to 136 ft can be restored to 142 ft, as sought by Tamil Nadu.  “As the existing dam is found safe, the proposal of Kerala to build a new dam needs to be reconsidered by the state,” the panel noted. It said a new independent expert committee may be required to look into the need for raising the full reservoir level beyond 142 ft as laid down by the Supreme Court.  The panel, including former Supreme Court judges A R Lakshmanan (Tamil Nadu) and K T Thomas (Kerala), and two technical members, submitted the 250-page report to the Supreme Court on April 25, after studying investigation reportsby the country’s premier institutes. With Tamil Nadu’s stand on the dam’s structural stability being vindicated by the panel, government sources said the state would soon insist on raising the water level to 142 ft immediately. The panel dismissed Kerala’s fears of the dam collapsing in the event of an earthquake, clarifying that tremors in Idukki district in 2011 were small in magnitude, short-lived, sporadic in nature and probably of ‘swarm’ type. Since it was possible that the dam could suffer damage due to reasons beyond anybody’s control, the panel suggested two alternatives as “way forward-towards an amicable resolution” of the issue. It said Kerala can construct a new dam at its own expense, if cleared by the planning commission and the ministry of environment and forests. The construction, of a new dam, giving due margin for inflation, may cost more than Rs 1,000 crore. There was a caveat though. “The operation of the new dam will commence only after a fresh MoU is executed between Kerala and Tamil Nadu; that Tamil Nadu will be entitled to all its existing rights, including all water levels under the lease deed of 1886 and agreement of 1970; to control, operate, maintain an independent committee led by central representative with representatives of Kerala and Tamil Nadu is put in place, …..” The decommissioning or demolition of the existing dam would be subject to the conditions met by the two states, the report said. The other alternative the panel suggested was to construct a new tunnel at a height of 50 ft to evacuate water from the reservoir from the existing level of 106.5ft. The new tunnel will have to be constructed by Tamil Nadu, since the ownership of the dam vests with it.