CHENNAI: Pooh-poohing the Kerala government’s claim about the safety of the Mullaiperiyar Dam, a group of engineers here on Friday termed that State’s claims ‘intellectual dishonesty’ and ‘technical fraud’.Participating in a discussion on ‘Mullai Periyar999: The Truth and Lies’ organised by Land & Water Society and Naam Thamizh Makkal Peravai here, R Veerappan, retired Chief Engineer of Public Works Department (PWD), Tamil Nadu, said, “The hue and cry by the Kerala government and the local people is nothing but a stage-managed show with an ulterior motive.”“We challenge the Kerala government (and its engineers) to prove their claims on the safety of the Mullaiperiyar Dam. Let us have an open and public debate either in Chennai or in any place of their choice to put an end to these bunch of lies about the dam,” Veerappan said.He also countered the structural stability study report of IIT, Roorkee, which concluded that the dam was likely to face damage if an earthquake of the magnitude of 6.5 on the Richter scale struck its vicinity when the water level is at 136 feet.“When the whole area in and around the dam falls in a seismic zone-III, where only an earthquake of 3.5 and 4.2 magnitude in the Richter scale can occur, how has report arrived at 6.5 Richter scale as a basis for the stability study,” Veerappan asked.Speaking on the occasion, Prof M Subramanian, chief advisor on Mullaiperiyar for Naam Thamizh Makkal Peravai, said, “The Kerala political parties have whipped up frenzy that two million lives are gravely at risk. Nothing could be farther from truth than this fantastic lie.”Clearing the air on Kerala’s “repeated lies” about loss of lives, Subramanian said, “First of all, these so called two million people live in the upstream areas of Mullaiperiyar, not in the downstream. The dam is located 2,889 feet above the sea level. The habitations at the back of Kumuli dam stand at 3,350 feet from sea level, Vandiperiyar at 3,350 feet, Pambanar at 3,750 feet and Elaparai at 4,850 feet.”
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