SC-appointed panel finalises report on Mullaperiyar dam

Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee on the controversial Mullaperiyar Dam, over which Tamil Nadu and Kerala are at loggerheads, today finalised its much-awaited report on various aspects of the structure and will submit it to the court on Wednesday.

The five-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India A S Anand met in New Delhi on Monday and finalised the report that is understood to have focused on all aspects of the 119-year-old dam including its safety.

"The report has been finalised. All the members have signed the report today. We will be submitting it to the Supreme Court on Wednesday," former Supreme Court Judge A R Lakshmanan told reporters.

The committee, which was set up by the apex court in February 2010 to go into all aspects of the dam, has so far carried out several visits to the dam site and conducted tests and studies through various agencies on aspects including safety.

While Lakshmanan represents Tamil Nadu, former Supreme Court judge K T Thomas represents Kerala.

The finalisation of the report comes on the heels of tensions between the two states over the safety of the dam. While Tamil Nadu contends that the dam is safe and its water level has to be raised from 132 ft to 136 ft, Kerala says the structure is weak and it has to be replaced with a new dam.

As tensions rose between the two states in December last year, a two-member technical team of the Empowered Committee visited the site and is understood to have concluded that recent tremors in that region did not have any impact on the Mullaperiyar and Idukki dams and that they were safe.

The committee's tenure was extended after February this year to enable it to complete its report.