Thiruvananthapuram: The preliminary assessment of the Parliamentary Committee on Water Resources raising doubts about the safety of the Mulllaperiyar Dam has come as a morale booster for Kerala which has for long been at loggerheads with Tamil Nadu over the question of building a new dam in place of the 113-year-old structure.

After visiting the site, the committee headed by R Sambasiva Rao, MP, earlier this week has expressed doubts about the safety of the dam on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, which, according to Kerala, posed a grim threat to millions of pople in the downstream districts in the state.

As water from the Mullaperiyar is a major source of irrigation for several districts in Tamil Nadu and the state was opposed to its immediate de-commissioning, Kerala has drawn up plans for replacing it with a new one.

Amid long-drawn litigations, mediations and arbitrations, the neighbouring states have failed to reach an amicable settlement over a host of issues including that of increasing the water level of the reservoir. While Kerala was deadset against raising the maximum water mark beyond 132 feet, Tamil Nadu had often pressed for raising the level to at least 136 ft.

Mediation efforts by the Centre to settle the dispute in the past had failed to yield any result with the two sides sticking to their positions.

The initial assessment of the 13-member panel, which also comprised Parliamentarians from Kerala, was that the normal lifespan of a masonry dam like Mullaperiyar was only 50 years.

The committee would be discussing its findings with experts from the Central Water Commission before drawing up its report.
Source : PTI