Kerala expresses safety concerns over Mullaperiyar dam

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 21 (UNI) In the backdrop of a mild tremor, an expert team today suggested to the Kerala Government that the storage level of the 111-year-old Mullaperiyar dam be brought below 136 ft as the 'surki' dam posed serious safety concerns for the inhabitants in the downstream.

Kerala Water Resources Minister N K Premachandran, who received the preliminary report from the team that inspected the dam yesterday following Friday's tremor measuring 2.1 on the Ritcher scale, told newspersons that an earth quake of above five would have a disasterous consequences in the region, but it was for the Dam Safety Authority to decide on the question of wheather to decommission the dam or not.

The recommendations of the team would be handed over to the authority which would meet here tomorrow to take stock of the situation, he added.

The dam would be kept under observation for ten days to assess whether there was any increase in the seepage water in the wake of the tremor.

He said the team also recommended to the government conduct further studies on the seismic activities in the region as the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) had in its 2001 report noted that the region was prone earth quakes.

The minister said the dam was not made of concrete, but with 'surki,' a mixture of lime, burnt brick dust and earth. Even a comparative study was not possible as there was no record to prove that a similar dam existed now in anywhere in the world.

''In the wake of the fresh development, the state government is seeking legal opinion to file a curative petition in the Supreme Court which allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the storage level of the dam to 142 ft,'' he added.

Though the dam and its catchment areas fell within Kerala, the dam was administered by the neighbouring state as per a lease agreement between the two, he said.

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