C.D. Thatte and D.K. Mehta, the technical experts of the Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee (EC) on Mullaperiyar dam, visited the Lower Periyar dam downstream of the Idukki arch dam on Friday morning.
They held discussions with the officials of KSEB and irrigation departments at the KSEB guesthouse in Lower Periyar before proceeding to the dam around 11.30 a.m. They spent over an hour at the dam.
Later, they left to visit Idukki dam. The EC members will be visiting the Cheruthoni and Kulamavu dams before arriving at Thekkady for overnight stay by evening. They are scheduled to visit Mullaperiyar dam on Saturday.
Mullaperiyar Special Cell chairman M.K. Parameswaran Nair and member James Wilson, Irrigation Department Chief Engineer P. Lathika, and Irrigation Department Executive Engineer (Inter-State Waters) Leena George, Dam Safety Special Cell member Annamma John, and Dam Safety Chief Engineer Karuppankutty were among those accompanying the committee members.
EC members are keeping mediapersons at an arm’s length away in accordance with their pre-visit announcement of shunning all interactions with the media.
The visit by EC members assume significance in the wake of recurring tremors experienced in the vicinity of the dam and the tension prevailing between the two border States over the safety of the dam. Tamil Nadu authorities have brought equipment from Maharashtra to check the safety of the dam ahead of the visit of EC members.
