PWD officials boycott Mullaiperiyar dam inspection

MADURAI: The State PWD officials boycotted the Mullaiperiyar Dam inspection scheduled by the sub-monitoring committee on Wednesday in opposition to the Kerala government for preventing them from carrying construction material for maintenance of the dam.

The Supreme Court appointed the committee to inspect the dam annually or at other appropriate times. The sub-committee led by B Satish, Chairman and Executive Engineer, of Central Water Commission, arrived at around 10 am for the inspection.

However, the inspection didn’t happen as the PWD officials boycotted citing the Kerala government didn’t permit them to carry out 13 major maintenance works on the dam though six months have gone by since applications were sent to the Kerala government. On several occasions, reminder letters were sent and the issue was also explained to the Chairman of the sub-committee.

During the eighth monitoring committee meeting, Executive Engineer Kattappana was advised to grant permission within three days after the meeting. However, he did not abide by it. As the Mullaiperiyar dam, which is located on the Periyar River in Kerala, is operated and maintained by Tamil Nadu, the PWD officials in the sub-monitoring committee boycotted the inspection.