The Tamil Nadu government today turned down a plea by flood-hit Kerala for reducing the water level in the Mullaperiyar Dam to 139 feet over safety concerns in view of heavy inflows, saying the century-old reservoir was 'safe' enough to store water Upton 142 feet.
Chief Minister K Palaniswami stated this in a letter, responding to his Kerala counterpart Pinarayi Vijayan's communication to him yesterday.
Incidentally, the letter came on a day when the Supreme Court directed the Disaster Management sub-committee of Mullaperiyar Dam to consider reducing water level up to 139 feet from the present 142 feet, considering the "grave" flood situation in all the 14 districts of Kerala.
But, the letter was apparently written before the directive of the apex court which this afternoon took up for hearing a plea seeking a decision on disaster management steps in the background of the floods in Kerala.
"An effort has to be made to bring down the water level of the Mullaperiyar dam to 139 ft so that the people living downstream should not live in constant fear," a bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Indu Malhotra said.
In his letter, a copy of which was released to media, Palaniswami said the state Water Resources Department was maintaining the releases from the dam, owned and operated by Tamil Nadu, and there was no threat to its safety.
Water released from Mullaperiyar reaches Idukki reservoir, which is presently full.
"I would like to state that Mullaperiyar Dam is safe in all respects - hydrologically, seismically and structurally as per the Supreme Court order dated 7.5.2014. During the past, the dam was inspected by many experts on several occasions and they had also found that the dam is safe in all aspects," Palaniswami said.
The two states are locked in a dispute over the storage level in the dam, situated in high-range Idukki district of Kerala, which has been raising concerns about safety of people living downstream.
Besides writing to Palaniswami, the Kerala Chief Minister had also sought the intervention of the Centre as he raised concerns about safety of the dam in view of the swelling inflows following torrential rains lashing the state.
Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had informed Vijayan that based on the state's request, the Union Home secretary had spoken to the Tamil Nadu chief secretary on release of more water from the dam to bring down the level to 139 feet.
Vijayan wanted the level to be maintained at 139 feet to avoid untoward incident such as sudden or uncontrolled discharge from the dam which could further worsen the flood situation in the state, already reeling under an unprecedented deluge.
Palaniswami said the Supreme Court appointed supervisory committee during its last inspection on August 4 found that the dam was safe to store water upto 142 feet.
"Therefore, there is no threat to the safety of the dam... The Water Resources Department of Tamil Nadu is maintaining the releases through the spillways so as not to exceed the permitted water storage level at 142 feet duly giving periodical warnings to all concerned in Kerala," he said.
He also raised the issue of "lack of coordination" from Kerala officials, complaining that they were not permitting their Tamil Nadu counterparts to gauge the rainfall in the catchment areas of the Mullaperiyar dam.
Hence, the officials were compelled to assess the inflow only based on the actual rate of raise in water level in the dam, he said requesting Vijayan to inform Kerala officials to share the rainfall data in the catchment areas on a real time basis.
He also requested for restoration of power supply to the dam and its allied structures.
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