Reiterating that the Mullaperiyar dam is strong and that the water level could be raised to 142 feet, the Chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed Supervisory Committee, L.A.V. Nathan, on Monday said a change in attitude of Kerala and Tamil Nadu was necessary to resolve the inter-State dispute. Mr. Nathan, who inspected the dam, said officials should negotiate the issues by adopting a ‘give and take’ policy with an aim of resolving issues.
During the inspection, officials representing Kerala contended that the seepage from baby dam was far below the required level and since all seepage passages were plugged, it weakened the dam. On the other hand, Tamil Nadu officials insisted the seepage was within permissible limit.
The Kerala team, meanwhile, complained that the State was not informed when the dam’s shutters were operated. But officials from Tamil Nadu stated that maintenance was a routine affair and Kerala officials had the freedom to monitor the work any time.
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When officials from Tamil Nadu tabled two long-pending demands – electric power to the dam site and laying road connecting Vallakadavu and Periyar dam – their counterparts argued that this could be done only after clearance from environment and forest ministry and approval from other related ministries and boards.
Earlier, Mr. Nathan and the Tamil Nadu member N.S. Palaniappan had to wait for about 30 minutes for the Kerala member Kurian to join them for the inspection of the baby dam, the gallery and the shutters in 13 vents.
Even as the Tamil Nadu PWD officials stated that the shutters were in working condition and checked them when the level touched 136 feet few days ago, Kerala officials demanded that the shutters be operated in their presence. The chairman also stated that the records were perfect and it was the responsibility of TN PWD to maintain the shutters. But, Mr. Kurian repeatedly insisted that the doubts of Kerala should be cleared.
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Later, Mr Nathan told the TN officials to raise one of the shutters to allay their fear. A special technical team from Chennai operated the shutters with power generated from diesel gen-set.
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