The Tamil Nadu government should immediately move the Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court in the Mullaperiyar dam case and ensure that the Centre and the Supreme Court don’t take a decision that goes against Tamil Nadu’s interests, MDMK leader Vaiko said.
In a statement, Mr. Vaiko said nowhere in the world had disaster management panels been formed in dam areas.
The Supreme Court had, in January, asked the Centre and the governments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to set up disaster management committees and prepare disaster management plans to allay the fears of thousands of people who live downstream or in the vicinity of the Mullaperiyar dam.
The MDMK leader said that since 1990, there had been 45 instances of earthquakes in the Mullaperiyar dam region. “Yet, there has been no impact on the dam. The dam has a permanent dead storage of 104 feet and a capacity of 10.5 tmcft. The Idukki dam is 552-foot-high and has a capacity of 75 tmcft, and is larger than Mullaperiyar [dam],” he pointed out.
Mr. Vaiko said Tamil Nadu should not allow a situation where Kerala’s stand that the dam’s height should not be raised beyond 136 feet to prevail over Tamil Nadu’s interests.
