Kerala's state Water Resources Minister PJ Joseph on Tuesday said Mullaperiyar dam’s collapse will put upto seven million lives in danger.
The minister further said that if Mullaperiyar dam collapses five more dams downstream would also collapse, thereby threatening seven million lives in state’s Idukki, Kottayam, Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Pathanamthitta districts.
Concerns over the safety of the 116-year-old dam have mounted in the recent past and there are fears that the structure is weakening in the wake of recurring tremors in the Iddukki district.
The Tamil Nadu government who operates the dam by way of a lease agreement wants the water-level in the reservoir to be 142 feet where as Kerala has been insisting that it be reduced from the current 136 feet to 120 feet because of serious safety concerns.
The only solution now is to build a new dam as proposed by the Kerala govt.
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