Mullaperiyar: Kerala doubts validity of report

New Delhi: Opening yet another chapter in the long drawn out tussle between Tamil Nadu and Kerala over Mullaperiyar dam, the latter has said that it would question the scientific validity of the report submitted by the Supreme Court(SC)-appointed Empowered Committee which had said that the dam is safe. The SC is to take up the case for hearing on July 23.

“The Empowered Committee report is not final. It’s not scientific either. We will question the scientific validity of the report in the SC,” Kerala Water Resources Minister P J Joseph said at a press conference here on Tuesday after holding discussions with the state’s legal counsel Harish Salve.

He complained that the Empowered Committee did not bother to look into the scientific reports submitted by IIT Roorkee and IIT Delhi with regard to the safety of the dam. The IIT Delhi had looked into the hydrological factors while IIT Roorkee had specifically examined its strength to endure an earthquake and had said that the dam is not completely out of danger.

“A dam’s security has to be assessed structurally, hydrologically and seismically and only experts can do these. But the Empowered Committee has not bothered to take these reports into consideration while finalising the report. We will bring this matter to the attention of the SC,” said Joseph.

According to him, the committee could not find any fault with the report of the IITs despite hours of scrutiny. “Still it was ignored,” he said. This was corroborated by Dr A K Gosain who was part of the IIT Delhi team which prepared the report. “Our report that the dam is not safe is still valid. As many as 800 questions were asked to me to check the flaws in the report. They could not find any,” said Dr Gosain who was also present during the press meet.

He said that the report submitted by the IIT Delhi team had openly stated the way they arrived at the conclusion. “If somebody is rejecting a scientific report, then they are bound to spell out the reasons why it’s being rejected,” said Dr Gosain. When pointed out that the report is commissioned by Kerala Government, he said that it does not mean that it is fabricated to please the client. Joseph said that Kerala would build its case on the basis of these reports and expressed hope that SC will give a favourable verdict.