In the Supreme Court, Kerala on Wednesday pitched for building a new dam downstream on its side instead of the existing 126-year-old Mullaperiyar dam.
Appearing before a Bench led by Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, senior advocate Jaideep Gupta, for Kerala, said the solution should be "comprehensive" and Tamil Nadu was resisting change.
The court was in its first day of hearing a series of petitions questioning the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam.
Mr. Gupta said the instrumentation in the dam was "inadequate" and whatever there was not functioning.
"We do not know where this dam is going," Mr. Gupta submitted.
The court said it would be focussing on factors such as the instrumentation used in the dam, especially the seismic warning system, the height for storage of water and the mechanism for release of the water from the reservoir.
‘Reconstitute panel’
Kerala urged the court to reconstitute the supervisory committee to expand its ambit and include technical members from Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
"What is to be done in the long term? The process for setting up a new dam should start. The new dam should be 360 metres downstream in the Kerala side and from the existing dam to protect people living there... However, this is opposed by Tamil Nadu, who does not want a new dam," Mr. Gupta said.
Kerala said the existing dam could continue to function till the new dam was ready.
"Tamil Nadu however only wants the water level to be raised further," Mr. Gupta argued.
T.N.’s affidavit
In an affidavit filed on Wednesday, Tamil Nadu said the area of the dam did not show the presence of any "maximum credible earthquake forces".
It said the Central Water Power Research Institute had found it safe to store up to 152 feet of water in the existing reservoir.
No notable seismic occurence had occured in that region," the Tamil Nadu affidavit said.
The State said a seismograph and accelerograph to warn of seismic events could be installed in the dam site as a precaution. However, this would entail a small construction as advised by the National Geophysical Research Institute. Tamil Nadu said Kerala was denying permission for this construction.
