The supervisory committee appointed by the Supreme Court visited the Mullaperiyar dam on Monday. The visit followed a direction by the apex court to examine the functioning of various equipment installed at the dam and the working of the spillway shutters.
The shutters were opened and closed and a report will be submitted to the Supreme Court, according to an official representing Kerala.
This was the first visit of the supervisory committe after including two technical experts representing Kerala and Tamil Nadu. While Irrigation and Administration chief engineer Alex Varghese represented Kerala as technical expert, Tamil Nadu was represented by Cauvery Technical Cell chairman R. Subramanyam.
Central Water Commission (CWC) member Gulshan Raj is the chairman of the supervisory committee, consisting of T.K. Jose, additional chief secretary, Water Resources (Kerala), and Sandeep Saxena, secretary, Public Works department (Tamil Nadu) as members.
The team moved from the Thekkady boat landing station in a boat to the Mullaperiyar dam in the morning. The team also inspected the main dam, the baby dam and the spillway shutters.
The visit assumes significance as the unexpected opening of the spillway shutters at night several times during the last monsoon caused enormous misery to the people living on its downstream areas.
The water from the Mullaperiyar dam is released through the spillway shutters to the Periyar, upstream of the Idukki reservoir.
