New Delhi: A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court on Tuesday observed that the 129-year-old Mullaperiyar dam has outlasted its life twice, endured over 100 monsoons, and people have been living in the fear of the dam breaking down for several decades, when the petitioner sought an urgent hearing citing the monsoon.
One of the judges on the bench said that he had lived under that threat for one and a half years. The apex court said that a three-judge bench would hear the matter connected with the safety of the dam.
The matter came up before a bench comprising justices Hrishikesh Roy and S V N Bhatti. The apex court was hearing a plea in connection with the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam.
During the hearing today, a counsel urged the bench to consider the matter as there is some urgency in it, and submitted that the monsoon is due soon. The bench asked the counsel, how many monsoons has the dam endured so far? Counsel replied that the dam is over 100-year-old and it has endured several monsoons.
Justice Roy orally observed that the people have been living in the fear of dam breaking down for a hundred years and pointed out that the dam has outlasted its life twice. The counsel stressed that it is a very important matter as 15 lakhs people are at the risk of losing life, if the dam were to collapse. Justice Roy observed that he had lived under that threat for one and a half years.
After hearing submissions, the bench said the present matter be tagged with a pending case and it would be heard by a three-judge bench. The bench directed the matter to be listed with pending petitions.
Earlier this month, the apex court had orally asked Kerala and Tamil Nadu to address it whether the supervisory committee formed by it would be more effective in taking care of the dam, or a statutory committee, envisaged under the new Dam Safety Act of 2021, should be given the job.
