Kerala toughens stance following central govt's decision; Mullaperiyar dispute intensifies

NEW DELHI: The state demanded that the central government reverse its policy of removing Kerala's representative from the Mullaperiyar expert committee under pressure from Tamil Nadu. Kerala also demanded that the committee's work be stopped. Water Resources Minister Mons Joseph said it was unacceptable to take a unilateral decision on this matter.

The Central Water Commission removed former Chief Engineer T.K. Sivarajan, who was Kerala's representative, from the committee formed on January 6 to inspect the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam as per the Supreme Court's directive. Instead, M.L. Sharma, head of the International Centre for Excellence for Dams and professor of the Department of Earthquake Engineering at IIT Roorkee, was included. With this move, Kerala was stripped of any representation in the committee.

The decision taken by the Central Dam Safety Authority on June 16, without the knowledge of Kerala, was made public on Sunday. The secret move comes after the new government led by Vijay in Tamil Nadu came forward against Kerala's demand for the construction of a new dam in Mullaperiyar. This comes at a time when the safety inspection report is crucial to prove Kerala's claims that the dam is unsafe. In a letter sent to the Union Water Resources Department, Kerala pointed out that the findings of the committee, which does not have representation from Kerala, will not be transparent.

Since the formation of the committee, Tamil Nadu has been putting pressure to replace Sivarajan. The conundrum also halted the functioning of the committee. The committee was supposed to visit Mullaperiyar within a month of its formation and submit a report within four months. Former chairman of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), Balraj Joshi, and members, former NHPC member Gopal Dhawan, GFCC member Gulshan Raj, and former scientist N. Sivakumar of CSMRS, will continue in the committee. One among them is a representative of Tamil Nadu, and it continues as a secret.