A team of officials from the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department conducted a routine inspection of the Mullaperiyar Dam on Thursday, led by Dr S Sivakumar, Chief Engineer of the Madurai Region.

The team inspected key components of the dam, including the main dam, baby dam, earthen dam, gallery sections and spillways. The dam's shutters were also operated to assess their functioning.

As part of the inspection, the Chief Engineer reviewed the performance of various monitoring systems installed at the dam. These included the seismograph and accelerograph used to monitor earthquakes and ground motion, as well as the rain gauge, thermometer, anemometer, Daily Water Level Recorder (DWLR), and the V-notch system that measures seepage.

The team also visited the Vallakkadavu forest route used by Tamil Nadu officials to access the dam by road, the Thekkady head sluice through which water is diverted to Tamil Nadu, the forebay dam, and the boat maintenance facilities. Periyar Dam Superintending Engineer J Sam Irwin, Executive Engineer C Selvam, Assistant Executive Engineers P Rajagopal and Karthikeyan, and Junior Engineers Mahendran and Chellakumar accompanied the Chief Engineer during the visit.

Officials said the inspection was part of the department's routine assessment of the dam's infrastructure and monitoring systems.