KOTTAYAM: Pressing for a new dam to replace the century-old Mullaperiyar reservoir, Kerala Water Resources Minister P J Joseph today said the state would place before the Supreme Court its objections to the Empowered Committee's report which concluded that the structure was safe.

Holding that the exisisting dam was weak, he told reporters here that the state would place its demands and objections to the report submitted by the apex court appointed committee when the matter comes up for hearing on July 23.

With the Supreme Court deciding to consider petitions seeking lowering of the water level in the Mullaperiyar dam and that relating to construction of a new tunnel, the Mullaperiyar dam row appears set to dominate public debate in Kerala for months to come.

The ruling United Democratic Front (UDF) has its task cut out once the copy of the Empowered Committee report becomes available to it: it should go back to the basics of the issue and come up with arguments that will place the committee's inferences and recommendations and see how best it can defend Kerala's case before the apex court.

CHENNAI: The five-member Supreme Court empowered committee on the Mullaiperiyar issue has emphasised on Tamil Nadu’s rights over the existing dam and all its waters, under the 1886 lease deed and t

Chief minister J. Jayalalithaa said on Saturday that the state government’s stand on the Mullaperiyar dam has been vindicated by the Supreme Court appointed empowered committee’s report, which vouched for the safety of the dam.

The five-member SC committee, headed by former Chief Justice of India A. S. Anand, had said “the dam is hydrologically, structurally and seismically safe” and asked Kerala to reconsider its decision to decommission the existing dam and build a new one.

The Supreme Court today permitted Kerala and Tamil Nadu to get copies of the report submitted by the monitoring committee on the Mullaiperiyar Dam row.

The empowered committee appointed by the Supreme Court to examine the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam has concluded that it is hydrologically, structurally and seismically safe.

Setting at rest the controversy over the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, the Empowered Committee, headed by the former Chief Justice of India A.S. Anand, has said it is “structurally and hydrologically safe, and Tamil Nadu can raise the water level from 136 to 142 feet after carrying out certain repairs.”

In its report submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday, the committee is understood to have said: “The dam is seismically safe.” Last year's earth tremors in that region “did not have any impact on the Mullaperiyar dam and the Idukki reservoir and there was no danger to the safety of the two dams.”

The five-member Empowered Committee (EC) headed by former Chief Justice A. S. Anand has finalised the report on the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam.

The 250-page final report will be submitted to the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The committee's term ends this month-end. The committee, after examining the reports it had received from various agencies constituted by it on the strengthening measures as well as on the safety and security of the dam, gave finishing touches to the final report which has eight chapters.

The Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee on the Mullaperiyar dam today finalised its much-awaited report on various aspects of the structure and will submit it to the court on Wednesday.

Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee on the controversial Mullaperiyar Dam, over which Tamil Nadu and Kerala are at loggerheads, today finalised its much-awaited report on various aspects of the structure and will submit it to the court on Wednesday.

The five-member committee headed by former Chief Justice of India A S Anand met here today and finalised the report that is understood to have focused on all aspects of the 119-year-old dam including its safety.