Mullaperiyar Oversight Committee: Failure to reach agreement in the joint meeting, Minutes will be handed over to Supreme Court today

NEW DELHI: Kerala and Tamil Nadu have met in a joint meeting to prepare a recommendation for handing over more powers to the Mullaperiyar Dam Oversight Committee as per the Supreme Court order. Tamil Nadu said full control of the dam could not be handed over to the oversight committee. However, Kerala demanded that all activities, including the rule curve, gate operation schedule and instrumentation scheme, to be handed over to the committee. The minutes of the meeting will be handed over to the Supreme Court today.

In the judgments passed by the Supreme Court in 2006 and 2014, it had given directions to strengthen the Mullaperiyar Dam and Baby Dam. At the meeting, Tamil Nadu demanded that these be implemented. However, Kerala was adamant at the meeting that all work related to the dam should be handed over to the oversight committee.No agreement was reached by both parties.

There was no dispute at the meeting regarding the reorganization of the oversight committee. The committee, of which each of the two states is a member, is chaired by a representative of the Chairman of the Central Water Commission. It was suggested at the meeting that the three-member committee should be made up of technical experts from each of the two states. Attorneys representing both states also attended the joint meeting.