Mullaperiyar dam in stable and safe condition: TN

The Tamil Nadu government on Saturday dismissed Kerala's claims of leakage in Mullaperiyar Dam and said the reservoir was "stable and in safe condition".

The state government has told the Union water resources ministry that the seepage found was "well below the permissible limits".

"The team (of engineers) has reported to this government that the seepage was 58.46 litres per minute, when the water level in the dam was 135.10 feet. This quality of seepage is well below the permissible limits of seepage," said Tamil Nadu Public Works Department principal secretary S Ramasundaram said in a letter to the Union secretary of water resources.

The letter comes three days after Kerala Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan said a leakage had been detected in the dam and an experts' team was asked to examine the leak and submit a report urgently.

Ramasundaram said Bitumen provided in the construction joints in Blocks 17 and 18 had "slightly" come out due to weathering over the years and this would be repaired under regular maintenance.

"The team has concluded that the main dam, the baby dam and the surplus arrangements in the Mullaperiyar dam are all functioning well.

To sum up, the dam is stable and in safe condition, according to the team of senior engineers of the government of Tamil Nadu (who inspected the dam)," he said.

The team had "extensively" inspected the dam, the galleries, downstream of the dam and the spillways, Ramasundaram said in the letter, which was released to the media here.

Citing safety concerns, Kerala has been insisting on construction of a new dam in place of existing 113-year-old structure but it has come in for opposition from Tamil Nadu.

Tamil Nadu had moved the Supreme Court seeking a stay on the permission granted by the Centre to Kerala for carrying out a survey for construction of a new dam but the plea was rejected.