A dawn-to-dusk hartal had been called by the Mullaperiyar Protection Council against the Supreme Court verdict on Mullaperiyar dam on Thursday. Media reports suggest that the hartal has not gone down well with the other districts which are witnessing unusual period of pre-monsoon rain for the last couple of days.
In its order on Wednesday, the apex court clamped down on a law promulgated by Kerala government to declare Mullaperiyar dam as endangered and restrained it from obstructing the Tamil Nadu Government to raise the water level.
A five-judge constitution Bench headed by Chief Justice R M Lodha has directed the Kerala Government not to implement the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2006.
The apex court also appointed a three-member committee comprising the representatives of the Center and the governments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala to supervise the safety of the dam periodically. The Bench has empowered the committee to issue directions for ensuring the safety of the dam.
There had been differences between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the safety of the dam. Tamil Nadu has been contending that the dam was safe and its water level had to be raised from 132 feet to 136 feet, Kerala maintained that the structure was weak and needed to be replaced.
As tension between the two states rose in December 2011, a two-member technical team of the apex court-appointed Empowered Committee had visited the site and concluded that recent tremors in that region did not have any impact on the dam and that it was safe.
The apex court had on August 21 last year reserved its verdict on the legal battle between Tamil Nadu and Kerala governments over Mullaperiyar dam.
