Chennai,  Tamil Nadu Public Works Department (PWD) officials on Friday walked out of a Supreme Court-appointed sub-committee meeting on the Mullaperiyar Dam in Kerala to protest non-cooperation of Kerala Forest Department officials, sources said.

The sub-committee comprises an official from the Central Water Commission in the rank of Executive Engineer and officials from Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The subcommittee visited the Mullaperiyar dam, its baby dam, shutters, seepage level, and the gallery and held a meeting at Kerala Kumali.

In the meeting, Tamil Nadu officials said that they were not getting cooperation from the Kerala Forest Department and PWD officials who had refused transportation of construction materials to the dam site, sources told IANS, They also said that the Tamil Nadu side had received the necessary approval from the authorities concerned to cut and remove trees and lay roads in the area.

The Tamil Nadu officials informed the meeting that the Kerala side was delaying the cutting of trees and laying of roads under one pretext or the other, and walked out.