Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan said here on Friday that anything could happen to the Mullaperiyar dam anytime. This was what the studies including the latest on seismic hazards and structural stability of the dam showed.
Talking to journalists after a meeting of the Cabinet, the Chief Minister noted that people living downstream of the dam was intensifying their agitation demanding a new dam. "If the dam fails, life and property in five districts would be destroyed."
Asked about the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi's demand that Central Industrial Security Force should be deployed for protection of the dam, the Chief Minister asked what was the point in having them at the dam site. “Would they be able to stop the waters, if the dam fails?”
He recalled that following inspection of the dam by the Central Water Commission in 1979, both Kerala and Tamil Nadu had agreed on a new dam. However, Tamil Nadu subsequently reneged on that.
