SC seeks response of Kerala on Periyar dam

Appearing for the state, senior advocate Rajiv Dhawan said two earthquakes — one in December and the other in January this year — rocked Kerala and there has to be a technical apprisal of their impact on the dam.

Solicitor General Harish Salve informed the Court that the next meeting of the expert committee would be held on January 22.

Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy in his petition had sought that the water storage height of dam on Periyar river should be raised from present 136 ft to original 152 ft.

Swamy had claimed that due to a scare created by media reports in 1979 that the 115-year-old Periyar dam was on the verge of collapse, the Kerala Government lowered the water storage height to 136 ft, resulting in shortage of irrigation water to around two lakh farmers in Tamil Nadu.

He claimed the farmers are also agitating for raising of the storage height of Periyar dam as around four lakh hectares of agricultural field was deprived of irrgation water.

Kerala had sought time to file its response, saying the impact of the two earthquakes on the dam had to be ascertained.