Tamil Nadu team to plug Mullaperiyar holes
A team of TN public works department (PWD) engineers will visit Mullaperiyar Thursday to fill holes dug by experts to study structural safety of the dam.
Principal secretary (PWD) M. Saikumar said the work would be completed in four days starting Thursday.
The experts appointed by a Supreme Court-constituted empowered committee (EC), which studied safety of the 116-year-old structure, reportedly dug seven six-inch wide and 130-190-foot deep holes across the 1,200-foot main dam.
An eighth hole was dug in the 440-foot-long baby dam months before.
The engineers hope they would not face “discomfort” from their Kerala counterparts like they did last month.
Kerala engineers had turned away TN PWD officials on a similar mission on April 20, forcing the TN government to write to EC.
EC said the holes could be closed after safety tests, sources said. The last of the tests, a non-destructive one, was completed last month, they said.
Mr Saikumar said, “TN needs no permission to fill the holes. TN wrote to EC only after Kerala officials prevented its officials from doing the work last month. We will go ahead with the work.”
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