THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Kerala will form a special purpose vehicle for the speedy implementation of a new dam at Mullaperiyar, which will have sufficient fund allocation in the budget. This decision was taken at a high-level meeting attended by Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, Water Resources Minister P J Joseph, Additional Chief Secretary K Jayakumar, members of the Inter-State Water Advisory Committee and members of the Mullaperiyar Special Cell.While Jayakumar expressed apprehension that the state’s stand was not being taken seriously with regard to the proposal for a new dam, the high-level meeting decided to finalise a Brief Project Report (BPR) and then a Detailed Project Report (DPR) after submitting the Feasibility Report on the new dam to the Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court on Mullaperiyar.Jayakumar said that Tamil Nadu had taken a hostile stand on the new dam and was even belligerent about the new dam, which is a matter of concern just as the Empowered Committee had not heard the state’s witnesses. The two studies conducted by IIT Delhi and IIT Roorkee on Probable Maximum Flood Estimation and Stability of Mullaperiyar with regard to seismic effects, had found that Mullaperiyar was structurally weak. Even then, Tamil Nadu was trying to prove that the old lime-surkhi dam would be safe at least for another 50 years, Jayakumar said.The high -level meeting which was held at the Chief Minister’s conference hall also decided to convene an all-party meet to take a unified stand on constructing a new dam. The Chief Minister and the Water Resources Minister were also briefed about the current status of other inter-state water projects such as the Parambikulam-Aliyar, Neyyar Dam-Kanyakumari project and the Cauvery Award and related projects such as the Attappadi Valley Irrigation Project,The high-level meet decided to hold a ministerial-level meeting on the Parambikulam-Aliyar project. It has also been decided to review the Neyyar Dam-Kanyakumari project and make moves to get a resolution passed in the Assembly so as to reword the term cost-realisation with maintenance charge. This would result in the release of water to Tamil Nadu from Neyyar. It was also decided to hold detailed discussions on the Attappadi Valley Irrigation Project at a later date.
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