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The State Government will ‘petition' the Empowered Committee (EC) against the ‘unacceptable' conduct of a two-member team it had deputed to Mullaperiyar to take stock of the situation of the century-old dam there.
Riparian States Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been contesting each other's claims on the safety aspect of the dam triggered by a string of mild quakes in the area.
LAW AND ORDER
This has since led to a law and order situation on both sides of inter-State border, with assorted political parties joining the issue and taking it to the public domain.
Dr C. D. Thatte and Dr D. K. Mehta, members of the EC, had visited the dam site on Saturday last to check the impact, if any, from the mild quakes which Kerala Government had drawn its attention to.
The State Government now intends to convey formally to the Supreme Court-appointed EC on how the visit had ended on a ‘farcical note,' sources said.
The visiting team had gone on to even flout the apex court's guidelines in not just failing to appreciate the State's concerns, but also thwarting bids of its representatives to air them.
KERALA BOYCOTTS
It went on to boycott the visit after the EC team showed ‘undue haste' to accommodate Tamil Nadu's view points.
Sources said that, Ms P. Lethika, Chief Engineer, Water Resources, Kerala, was actually asked to ‘shut up' while explaining the nature of threats to the existing dam.
This was the last straw for the Kerala team, which felt insulted at the ‘high-handed' behaviour of the EC team.
Apparently, the bone of contention was modalities of the sonic tests conducted at the dam. Kerala argued that the test had been carried out only in one block, while Tamil Nadu insisted that three blocks had been tested. Dr Thatte accepted only the Tamil Nadu claim.
He also chose to ignore an order of a Division Bench of the Supreme Court in November 2010 to maintain status quo at the site by directing officials that dam safety guidelines be implemented in a time-bound manner.
Objections, if any, may be reported to the Principal Chief Conservator of Forests and the Chief Secretary, and the EC should be informed of who had raised the objections, the sources quoted Dr Thatte as saying. vinson@thehindu.co.in
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