SC orders TN to keep Mullaperiyar water level at 139ft
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New Delhi: The Supreme Court today ordered that the water level at the contentious Mullapariyar dam be kept at 139 ft till August 31.
The order comes in the wake of the devastating floods in Kerala.
A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud directed Tamil Nadu government to keep water levels at 139 ft.
According to the bench the decision to lower the water level in the dam was in response to the devastating floods in Kerala.
Earlier, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in a letter to his Tamil Nadu counterpart Edappadi K. Palaniswami requested him to lower the water level to 139 ft.
But the Tamil Nadu instead wanted the dam water level be maintained at 142 ft.
Tamil Nadu’s position stemmed from the fact that the Supreme Court verdict in 2014 allowed TN to store water up to 142 ft.
Alongside, Gulshan Raj, chairman of the Supreme Court-appointed three-member panel visited the dam site and termed the dam “strong enough” to hold water at 142 level.