The Tamil Nadu government on Wednesday moved the Supreme Court for a directive to the Union government to deploy the Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) at the Mullaperiyar dam immediately for its protection and to enable the State to raise the level to 142 feet.
In its application, Tamil Nadu said Kerala MLA Biju Mol, along with a group of journalists, visited the dam on November 17 without permission from the supervisory committee, constituted as per the Supreme Court’s May 7 order. The Executive Engineer of the Tamil Nadu PWD informed the MLA that she could inspect the dam but the journalists could not visit it. He requested the local police on duty not to permit the journalists, but the police asked him to safeguard himself and told him that they could not do anything in the presence of the MLA. The engineer was pushed by a few journalists. Chief Secretary Mohan Verghese Chunkath lodged a protest with his Kerala counterpart against the visit of the MLA and the Kerala police’s failure to prevent the unauthorised entry.
The incident showed that Kerala had failed in its solemn obligations to protect the dam, it said.
Tamil Nadu said the dam level steadily increased to 141.07 feet as on November 17 against the permitted storage of 142 feet. “Officials of Kerala are raising the bogey of the safety of the dam and untenable contentions, seeking to review the judgment and attempting to reduce the storage to less than 142 feet.”
On November 15, Kerala filed an application for clarification/guidance that storage above 136 feet was to start only after the storage space of the Vaigai dam was exhausted. To prevent the level crossing 142 feet, the gate should be opened gradually when the level stood at 136 feet, and the discharge should spread over 72 hours. Tamil Nadu said Kerala’s application was an attempt to reopen the judgment.
The application said Tamil Nadu asked the chairman of the supervisory committee to deploy the CISF for the meeting scheduled for November 24.
