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The Hindu
The Hindu
National
The Hindu Bureau

Condition of Mullaperiyar dam satisfactory, CWC tells top court

A Central Water Commission status report in the Supreme Court on Thursday said the “overall condition of the Mullaperiyar dam and its appurtenant structure” is satisfactory based on visual inspections conducted by the court-appointed Supervisory Committee.

The Commission (CWC) said the Supervisory Committee had visited the dam during its annual meetings held at the project site.

“Till date 14 meetings of the Supervisory Committee have been held, the last one on February 19, 2021,” the report said.

The records of past five of these meetings conclude that the “overall condition of the dam and its appurtenant structure, based upon visual inspection is found to be satisfactory”.

The CWC however said “a fresh review of the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam is now due and is required to be undertaken”.

The report said the safety aspects of the dam were under the watch of the Empowered Committee constituted by the Supreme Court in 2010. This committee had, from 2010 to 2012, “looked into and thoroughly investigated” the safety aspects.

The Empowered Committee, with the help of expert organisations, had then “arrived the conclusion that the Mullaperiyar dam is found to be safe in all respects, viz, hydrologically, seismically and structurally”, the CWC report said.

In the last hearing, the court had made it clear that it would not intervene to “administer the dam” when a Supervisory Committee was already in place to examine the issue of safety of the dam and the management of its water level.

The court had said it was only concerned about the safety, security and health of the persons living in the vicinity of the dam.

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