NEW DELHI: In what could make sparks fly between Tamil Nadu and Kerala, already in an uneasy relationship over the Mullaperiyar dam, Supreme Court on Monday sought responses from both states and the Centre on an NGO’s plea for a comprehensive safety audit of the 130-year-old dam and remedial measures, including its possible decommissioning.A bench of CJI B R Gavai and Justice K Vinod Chandran also sought responses from National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) and National Dam Safety Authority (NDSA) on the petition by ‘Save Kerala Brigade’, which expressed concern over the outdated dam, located in a seismic zone, posing a serious threat to the lives of 10 million people living downstream.Appearing for the NGO, senior advocates V Giri and Haris Beeran sought “a holistic, expert safety evaluation of the dam by national and international dam safety experts and remedial measures, including its possible decommissioning”.”The 1895-built Mullaperiyar Dam, constructed with lime-surkhi mortar and rubble masonry, sits on the Periyar river in a seismic zone of high intensity and exceeded long ago its design life. Recent studies and surveys by experts show the dam in a structurally dangerous state, threatening catastrophic failure at any moment,” the NGO said.As part of the decades-old litigation between the two southern states over control of the dam,  which is located inside Kerala but owned by Tamil Nadu, in 2006,  SC had permitted the full reservoir level to be increased to 142 feet with requisite strengthening work. The NGO requested SC to set up a multi-disciplinary expert committee for the safety audit of the dam under court supervision and direct reduction in the FRL in the interim, and sought preparation of a detailed safety reassessment and decommissioning/reconstruction plan, if needed.
