Empowered Committee to send Technical Members to Inspect Mullaperiyar Dam

The Empowered Committee in its meeting on 5 December 2011 decided to send two technical members to inspect the Mullaperiyar dam before finalising its report following apprehensions raised by Kerala  about the safety of the dam after mild tremors occurred in the area.

The Empowered Committee is headed by former Chief Justice of India, A.S. Anand. The other members of the committee include Justice K.T. Thomas, a retired Supreme Court judge representing Kerala; Justice A.R. Lakshmanan, a retired Supreme Court Judge representing Tamil Nadu; C.D. Thatte, former Secretary to the Ministry of Water Resources and D.K. Mehta retired Chief Engineer, Central Water Commission. The committee had conducted a spot inspection of the dam in December 2010.

During iots meeting on 5 December, the committee considered the reports of the studies and investigations conducted by various agencies it constituted to study the dam's safety. It also discussed the applications filed respectively by Kerala and Tamil Nadu and took note of their submissions.

Kerala had urged the Expert Committee to review its order rejecting permission for producing additional evidence in respect of the safety, based on the reports of two experts, D.K. Paul and M.L. Sharma. the committee had earlier rejected Kerala's application on the grounds that in 2009, the Supreme Court had not taken on record these reports.

The committee, according to Kerala ought not to have relied on the Supreme Court's order as it was not barred from receiving evidence in respect of seismic threat to the dam.  Following Kerala’s argument the committee agreed to hear the State's arguments on this count.

Since Kerala filed an application for bringing on record the recent tremors and sought an oral hearing, the committee decided to send two of its members to conduct a spot inspection of the dam. Kerala's plea for oral hearing was also accepted. The committee directed Tamil Nadu and Kerala to make submissions on 2 January 2012. On 3 January the committee will consider the modalities for finalising its report to the Supreme Court.

Earthquakes in the region

During the months of July-November 2011, 25 earthquakes were reported in the Mullaperiyar dam region . Some of the earthquakes on 26 July and 18 and 26 November were more than magnitude 3 on the Richter Scale. The highest magnitude 3.8 was recorded on 26 July 2011.

The frequent earthquakes caused panic among 50 lakh people in the downstream region of the Periyar dam. The fear was further heightened by the incessant rain in the catchments of Mullaperiyar shooting the storage above 136 feet mandated by the provisions of the Amendment Act of 2006.

If the Mullaperiyar dam breaks due to flood or earthquake, a mass disaster would follow, wherein not only the life and property of 50 lakh people will be affected in Kerala, but lakhs of farmers of Tamil Nadu will also lose irrigation of about 2.5 lakh acres. Kerala therefore feels that Tamil Nadu should agree for the construction of a new dam offered by Kerala as a precautionary measure.