NCMC to reduce water level in Mullaperiyar dam: Centre to SC

NEW DELHI: The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) dealing with devastating floods in Kerala has decided to reduce water level in Mullaperiyar dam to check additional inflow to avert further disaster.

Rescue workers evacuate people from flooded areas after the opening of Idamalayar, Cheruthoni and Mullaperiyar dam shutters following heavy rain, in Kochi, Kerala. Reuters

Satya Prakash

Tribune News Service

New Delhi, August 17

The Centre on Friday told the Supreme Court that the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC) dealing with devastating floods in Kerala has decided to reduce water level in Mullaperiyar dam to check additional inflow to avert further disaster.

Additional Solicitor General PS Narasimha informed a Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra that the situation was being monitored every minute. He said Kerala and Tamil Nadu were cooperating with the efforts to deal with floods that claimed around 324 lives and damaged property worth crores of rupees.

On Thursday, the top court had asked the government to call an urgent meeting of NCMC and a sub-committee constituted under Section 9 of The Disaster Management Act, 2005, with representatives of Kerala and Tamil Nadu to see if it was possible to reduce water level in the dam “at least to 139 feet.”

On Friday, it asked NCMC and the sub-committee to coordinate with the committee on Mullaperiyar Dam to explore possibility of bringing down water level from 141 ft at present to 139 feet.

CJI Misra said judges were no experts to measure the dangers of water levels in the dam. “We are leaving it to the Executive. How can we do all this?” he said.

However, it said NCMC’s directions on rescue, relief and rehabilitation will be binding on Kerala. The idea was to deal with the calamity, rescue and rehabilitate people caught in floods, he said.

The court was dealing with a petition by a man from Kerala who wanted the structural safety of the dam to be entrusted to a statutory committee till the flood waters receded.

There was no cooperation between Kerala and Tamil Nadu and people living near the dam were under fear of getting washed away, the petitioner’s counsel alleged and demanded measures to ensure safety of those living downstream.

The Bench asked TN to scrupulously follow the directions of the committees and directed the Kerala Chief Secretary to file an affidavit detailing the rescue and rehabilitation measures.

On behalf of Tamil Nadu, senior advocate Shekhar Naphade said “if water is released now, it will create more havoc as it will flow into Kerala only.”

As the CJI suggested exploring the possibility of storing the water somewhere else, Naphade said it was not possible as the water level had already reached the maximum. “It’s an act of God,” he said.