Mullaperyar Dam -An unending dispute

The Mullaperiyar Dam is becoming an Unending Dispute hanging like a Democle's Sword over Kerala State. The arguments leading to the safety put forward by Tamil Naadu as approved by Court appears to be silly &a meaningless challenge to the Nature for which neither the Court nor the Government has any kind of control.No one can predict the safety of a dam more than 100 yeras old A natural Calamity resulting in the collapse of the Dam any time can not be ruled out in the future,So the prime importance should have been afforded to the anxiety of the innocent people residing around the Dam than to the Technical view based on which the decision was accorded by the Court ignoring the arguments put forward by the kerala state regarding the danger to the life & property of the people residing around the Dam. A brief history of how the dam came into existence & how the TN assumed control over it is narrated below: The 155 feet high& 1200 feet long Mullaperiyar Dam was constructed by the British Soldiers of the British Corps of Royal Engineers in the year 1895 in order to fecilitate Irrigation to certain districts of the then Presidency of Madras & now being called Tamil Naadu. The places for which irrigation was necessary ,according to the Britishers,were Madurai,sivagangai, Ramanathapuram& Theni.The intention was to make the lands in these places into fertile lands by providing Water The Periyar river is a Westflowing river of the Kerala State.The river flows her full course Entirely through Kerala.She derives her Water exclusively from catchment area inside the state. The Dam Mullaperiyar stops the Westflowing River to form a Reservo(IDUKKI RESERVOIR) which also exclusively located in Kerala.From this Reservoir Tamil Naadu collects water to the Eastern side of the Western ghats via a Tunnel. On the 29thOctober 1886,a written Lease agreement was concluded between the Maharaja of Travancore and the Secretary of States for India for irrigation works. This agreement was made for 999 years. Col.John Pennnnycuick, a Brtish Engineer was theson who decided to change the course of flow of Periyar River from West to East by making Reservoir at Idukki.He also decided to Construct the Dam to fertilise the land in the presidency of Madras(Now Tamil Naadu).He also empowered the Presidency to constuct&maintain the dam. This is how T%amil Naadu started climing the right for the ownership of the Da

After the Independence for India,when the Kerala State was formed based on Linguistic basis,the Kerala Government had a Golden Opportunity to cancel the Contract as it's validity ceased to exist. But it appears that that since Kerala never felt any scarcity for water with plenty of Rivers&other water resources and also in view of the fact that the Political parties were more interested in securing Power to rule,the importance of the Mullaperiyar dam was ignored. The Britishers had fixed nominal rates of taxes for Land& surcharges for generating Electicity. On November 1956 the Kerala State was formed&later on a Poolitical party Government came into existence. The Government so formed announced that the Agreement cocluded by the British Govt&Travancore Raj has become invalid on getting Independence &needed renewal. This announcement,instead of insisting on cacellation of the Agreement was a grave Mistake which hunts Kerala today by the TN Government. Several attempts were made by The Government of Kerala in 1958,1960&1969 but could not be renewed duev to disagreement on various points raised. Finally,in 1970 thethen Chief Minister Shri.C.Achuthamenon renewed the agreement surprisingly again for 999 years. In other words, the agreement would remain in force untilthe year 2969(Two Thousand Nine Hundred andsixty nine) This would not only would appear to be a Blunder but the revised rates fixed to be paid by Tamil Nadu Govt for Land&Surcharges on Electicity Generation at Rs 2.5 Lakhs &7.5 Lakhs .This meagre amounts are being paid to Kerala by TN besides dictating terms regarding the bOwnership. Many Arguments&Technical views were presented to the Court with a view to strengthening the views of Kerala to the effect that the 116years old Dam was in Danger for the peopleresiding around the Dam .In order to ensuring the safety of life&Property of the people, retaining the level of water at 136 feet without increasing to 142 feet suggested by the TN was put forward to the Apex Court recently but unfortunately everything fell into deaf years&the Court has now finally approved the Blunder of Tamiol Nadu to challenge the Nature by raising the level to 142.feet. It is said that the approval by the Apex Court is likely to have the effect of immersing 7158 Hectres of Forest land in water. Besides,Calamities in the form of Earth quake& Flood are looming over the Head of Kerala like a Democle's Sword. Now,Kerala has no option but to pray Nature& to the Apex court to review the case of the Dam again more elaborately to save the life of crores of innocent people . SreedharanMundanat 11th May 2014, 12-57 Hrs(IST)