Tamil Nadu to seek SC cue on dam issue

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With Justice A.S. Anand led Empowered Committee (EC) vindicating TN’s stand on the Mullaperiyar dam row, the state government has planned to step up its offensive shortly.

senior TN PWD (public works department) officials told Deccan Chronicle that the government has decided to move the Supreme Court seeking to implement the recommendation of the EC, which had concluded that the dam was safe and favoured the raising of water level in the dam to 142feet, a long-pending demand of TN.

A petition would be moved before the Constitution bench of the SC, which is already hearing TN’s petition challenging Kerala’s Irrigation Act that prohibits the raising of water level beyond 136 feet in gravity dam.

The court has been closed for vacation and the fresh petition praying for increasing the water level to 142ft as per the EC recommendation will be moved as soon as the constitution bench sits for hearing after the vacation,” the senior official noted.

Meanwhile, TN PWD engineers have decided to visit the dam again on Monday and attempt to close the holes dug in the main and baby dam of Mullaperiyar by experts deputed by the EC for assessing the dam’s structural safety.

PWD officials expressed hope that TN would not be compelled to seek legal recourse even for the issue of plugging the holes.

Twice in the past 30 days, including last Friday, Kerala officials prevented TN engineers from filling the holes in the dam, which remain open ahead of the monsoon season.

The officials, however, added that TN would not be averse to move SC for the plugging the holes if Kerala, which has given an undertaking to SC to protect the dam continues to prevent TN engineers from plugging the holes.