Tamil Nadu has rejected Kerala’s call for lowering the water level of the Mullaperiyar dam to 136 feet. Instead, it has sought Kerala’s cooperation in storing water up to 142 feet.
In his reply on Sunday to his Kerala counterpart Oommen Chandy, Chief Minister O. Panneerselvam said the Mullaperiyar dam was operated in such a way as “to obtain optimum utilisation of the available water.” “The Government of Kerala cannot interfere with the regulation of flows from the Mullaperiyar dam,” he said.
He also referred to Tamil Nadu’s reply to Kerala, sent on November 1, that the dam was “structurally, hydrologically and seismically safe” to store water up to 142 feet for the time being, and Kerala’s demand for restricting the storage to 136 feet went against the Supreme Court’s judgment of May this year, allowing Tamil Nadu to raise the level to 142 feet initially.
Mr. Panneerselvam recalled that the Supervisory Committee, constituted by the Supreme Court, concluded at a meeting on November 3 that “there is apparently no immediate justification for opening the gates.”
On the impact of a reduction in storage between November 1979 and May 2014, he said Tamil Nadu could not utilise about 26.23 thousand million cubic feet (tmc ft), causing “undue hardship” to farmers of five southern districts.
Prior to 1979, the combined live capacity of the Mullaperiyar and Vaigai dams was 16.31 tmc feet, and it was later reduced to 11.85 tmc feet. “This is being partially restored to 13.41 tmc feet when the level is kept at 142 feet.” he said, citing the court’s judgments of February 2006 and May this year. Pointing out that the increase in the storage of the Mullaperiyar dam from June was “gradual and steady” and not sudden, the Chief Minister said the rainfall in the catchments was also “not heavy.”
