As part of improving security, the state cabinet accorded sanction to open a new police station at Thekkady where the dam is located. The dam and nearby areas would come under its ambit, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy told reporters here.
The state government did not perceive any threat to dam. But, the step to increase security had been taken in the backdrop of submission in Supreme Court by an agency that there was a threat to Mullaperiyar dam, Chandy said.
Tamil Nadu government had recently filed an affidavit in the Supreme court seeking CISF deployment for Mullaperiyar dam in in view of perceived threats by LTTE.
However, "We take the submission in the apex court on the perceived threat seriously and decided to strengthen the security," Chandy said.
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It was also decided to create 197 additional posts, including that of a DySP rank for the exclusive security of the 112-year old dam.
The police station, with all modern equipment including CCTV cameras would function 24 hours at Thekkady, he added.
Citing safety concerns, Kerala had been wanting to build a new dam in place of the existing over-a-century-old reservoir, a move opposed by Tamil Nadu saying it would be deprived of its share of water for irrigating southern districts.