Mullaperiyar: Kerala unhappy over expert tests

Raga13

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posted on 13 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

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KOCHI: Even as the Mullaperiyar case is scheduled to come up before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Kerala has its own reservations ..

KOCHI: Even as the Mullaperiyar case is scheduled to come up before the Supreme Court on Tuesday, Kerala has its own reservations about the tests carried out by the expert team assigned by the Coordination Technical Committee (CTC) under the Mullaperiyar Empowered Panel. With the empowered panel to submit its report in a month or so, the state has already conveyed its displeasure.
"Kerala is not satisfied with the way the tests were carried out in the dam. We feel the ROV (Remote Operating Vehicle) tests by the CSMRS (Central Soil and Materials Research Station) under the Ministry of Water Resources were not carried out in a proper manner. In the first phase, only about 25 per cent of the tests was done. The remaining was carried out in a couple of days," Irrigation chief engineer P Lathika said. Similarly, a number of other tests like the toptobottom 250 mm drilling to collect material and the material tests were not carried out at the dam.

It has been pointed out that these tests are meant to assess the strength of the existing dam.

Meanwhile, sources said the empowered panel, which will meet on August 5 in New Delhi, is expected to submit its final report in a month.

However, Tamil Nadu has submitted a request before the court to postpone the hearing and argument on the case for four more weeks, stating that it needs more time to reply to the rejoinder by Kerala.