The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Tamil Nadu government to consider lowering the water level at Mullaperiyar dam to 139 feet from the current 142 feet. The Supreme Court also ordered the National Crisis Management Committee to meet on Friday over Mullaperiyar Dam storage and management. The committee has been asked to file a report by 2 pm on Friday.
According to latest reports, Tamil Nadu CM Edappadi K. Palaniswami has expressed his unwillingness to act on the request of Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan to reduce water level of Mullaperiyar Dam. EPS stated that the SC had permitted the water level to be maintained at 142 feet.
However, the Supreme Court took up the case for hearing after a Kerala resident filed an urgent petition in the matter.
With water-level in the Mullaperiyar reservoir breaching the Supreme Court-fixed limit of 142 feet, an Idukki resident, Russel Joy, has approached the Supreme Court to intervene in the matter. The Tamil Nadu government had ostensibly waited for the reservoir to be filled up to the limit to buttress its claim that the old dam was safe.
Russel Joy's counsel appeared before Justice Ranjan Gogoi on Thursday to apprise the court of the alarming situation in Idukki where water from the Mullaperiyar has flooded vast swathes of inhabited areas. Justice Gogoi has asked for the case to be brought to the notice of the Chief Justice of India.
Kerala had repeatedly requested the Tamil Nadu authorities to release the water gradually as the catchment areas were receiving copious rain, but the ruling class in the neighbouring state took the opportunity to further their political agenda.
Tamil Nadu can only draw 2,300 cusecs (cubic foot per second) of water from the reservoir for irrigation purposes but the current inflow is more than 20,508 cusecs. The remaining water has to be drained to the larger Idukki reservoir, which is already close to its storage capacity.
The Mullaperiyar dam has 13 shutters, including three old ones. All of them have been opened up to 1.5 metres to drain the excess water. They can be opened up to 16 m.
As much as 10,000 cusecs of water is being released from the Mullaperiyar reservoir to the Idukki reservoir since Wednesday night. Authorities have warned that the outflow could be increased to up to 30,000 cusecs, aggravating the unprecedented flood situation in Kerala.
Though the Mullaperiyar reservoir is within Kerala’s territory, Tamil Nadu wields control on it based on a pre-independence pact and subsequent court orders. The Tamil Nadu authorities open or shut the reservoir’s shutters in accordance with the whims and fancies of the political regime, without any care for scientic data.
Intermittent rains may force Tamil Nadu to release more water from the Mullaperiyar reservoir. The gushing waters will flow 44 km to reach the Idukki reservoir. Water level in the Idukki dam has risen to 2,398.90 ft, a tad below its storage capacity of 2,403 ft.
The authorities have raised the first and fifth shutters of the Idukki dam for 2 m and the second, third and fourth shutters for 2.3 m. They may be forced to lift the shutters further if more water ends up in the reservoir from the Mullaperiyar dam.