Responding to concerns raised by Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on the storage in Mullaiperiyar dam, the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Thursday wrote to him saying the dam “is safe” in all respects — hydrologically, seismically and structurally as per the Supreme Court order in May 2014.
“During the past, the dam was inspected by many experts on several occasions and they had also found that the dam is safe in all aspects,” Mr. Palaniswami said in the letter, a copy of which was released to the media in Chennai.
Even during its last inspection on August 4 this year, the Supreme Court-appointed Supervisory Committee said that the dam “is safe to store water up to 142 ft” and hence “there is no threat to the safety” of the dam and water is being stored at the permitted level of 142 ft as per the orders of the Supreme Court, he pointed out.
Tamil Nadu has been transferring water from Mullaiperiyar dam to Vaigai basin to the maximum extent possible through the tunnel and when the inflows into the dam increased, there has been continuous co-ordination between the engineers of Tamil Nadu and Kerala, including the respective District Collectors, Mr. Palaniswami stated.
“The Water Resources Department of Tamil Nadu is maintaining the releases through the spillways so as not to exceed the permitted water storage level at 142 ft. duly giving periodical warnings to all concerned in Kerala,” the Chief Minister said. He cited the inspection of the Chairman of Sub-Committee of Mullaiperiyar dam on August 15 that found that the digital water level recorder was “functioning well”. There are also several gauge plates installed to ascertain the water level of the dam.
Mr. Palaniswami added that “Kerala is not permitting Tamil Nadu officials to gauge the rainfall in the catchment area and Tamil Nadu officials are therefore compelled to assess the inflow only based on the actual rate of raise in water level in the dam.” He urged Mr Vijayan to instruct his officials to share the rainfall data in the catchment of Mullaiperiyar with Tamil Nadu officials on a real-time basis.
Though officials from Tamil Nadu were in constant touch with Kerala State Electricity Board for restoring the power supply to the dam, is was to no avail, Mr. Palaniswami said. He urged Mr Vijayan to restore power supply to the dam. He noted that a sum of ₹.1.65 crore has been deposited by Tamil Nadu with the Kerala State Electricity Board to restore the power supply.
