-A three member bench headed by the Chief Justice of India Justice Dipak Mishra, on January 11, 2018 directed the central government as well as Tamilnadu and Kerala government to to set up a special committee to exclusively prepare disaster management plans. for 122 years old Mullaiperiyar dam.
-The new committee will restrict itself to disaster management plans and it will not consider the safety and lifespan objectives. Since a committee had been formed to cover the aspects of safety and lifespan of the dam as ordered by a Constitution Bench of the court in May 2014.
-The present direction of the Supreme Court to appoint an international agency to study the longevity of the dam came in the response of the petition filled by advocate Russel Joy. The petitioner is representing about three million people who live in the dam’s downstream area.
About the Mullaiperiyar Dam
-The Mullaperiyar Dam was built at the confluence of the Mullayar and Periyar rivers in Kerala in 1895. This dam provides for diversion of water from the reservoir through a tunnel to Vaigai basin in Tamilnadu.
-The Mullaiperiyar dam is built on an elevated junction of 850m and has a height of of 53.6m (176ft.) from the foundation, and a length of 365.7m (1,200ft.) for catering to the irrigation needs of Tamil Nadu.
-This dam is situated in Kerala and Tamilnadu owns it.
–The Mullaiperiyar Dam is a perennial source of water and controversy between Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
-The dam was situated in the princely state of Travancore (now Kerala) and given to British-ruled Madras Presidency on a 999-year lease in 1886.
-This lease agreement was renewed by the two state governments in independent India in the 1970s.
-The Kerala press claimed a minor earthquake had caused cracks in the dam in 1979, which raised the safety issue.
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