The 127-year-old Mullaperiyar dam is "behaving well", the Tamil Nadu Government told the Supreme Court.
Seepage rate, which is observed on a daily basis, is well within permissible limits. The lime leaching of the dam is “far below the permissible limit.” Silting of the dam is very minimum. There is neither a deformation nor any abnormality in the dam, the State said in an affidavit. Tamil Nadu is countering claims by Kerala that the dam is unsafe and dangerous to thousands living downstream, especially during torrential rains. But Tamil Nadu assured the court that all the parameters of the dam were found to be within limits despite storing water at a level of +142 feet in 2021-2022. "Hence there is no ground or necessity to have a fresh review on the safety of the dam for storing water up to +142 feet now," Tamil Nadu, represented by Additional Advocate General V. Krishnamurthy, senior advocate G. Umapathy and advocate D. Kumanan, said.
The State blamed Kerala instead, for "thwarting" efforts made by it to carrying out any remaining strengthening and maintenance works. Tamil Nadu urged the court to direct Kerala to cooperate so that the work could be completed in the next four months before the Southwest monsoon.