A time bomb going by the name of Mullaperiyar Dam is ticking away in Kerala’s Idukki district. “The 130-year-old dam is sure to burst anytime causing unimaginable devastation in five districts of the State. The deluge that the sudden bursting of the overaged dam would swallow 4.5 million people and their properties,” say experts who are closely monitoring the safety of the dam.
Mullaperiyar Dam built in 1880 across Periyar River by the then British Government in power in the Madras Presidency at a high cost to the princely State of Travancore has been a burning issue in South India ever since it went operational in 1895. The mortar used in construction of this rickety dam was a mix of ‘surkhi’ (burnt brick ground to a powdery substance) and limestone on 8,100 acres of dense forest area in the Western Ghats. “It outlived its estimated life decades ago, and the only option left is to build a new dam after decommissioning the existing one,” MS Menon, former director general of Central Water Commission, told “The Pioneer”.
He said, “Safety aspects apart, the controversy over the crumbling dam has degenerated into politicking of the worst kind putting the lives of millions of people at high risk. The dam is built across Periyar River which is not an inter-State river. The Government of Kerala does not require any green signal from Tamil Nadu to go ahead with the construction of a new dam.”
Professor AK Gosain, eminent hydrologist and former head of civil engineering department of IIT, Delhi, who undertook a study on the safety of Mullaperiyar Dam said that the reservoir is in a dilapidated condition and could collapse at any time. “Our study conducted during late 1990s was based on the Rain Atlas formulated by the Government of India. The maximum precipitation recorded during the study period was sufficient to topple the dam in those days itself. The situation has become worse over the last decade because of the changes in probable maximum precipitation due to major changes in the intensity of rainfall,” Dr Gosain told The Pioneer on Saturday.
According to Dr Gosain, the dam is sure to burst any time. “But it is not possible to forecast the exact date and time of the collapse of the dam,” he said
The mixture of surkhie and limestone has been washed away over the years, pointed out Menon. Though Tamil Nadu claims to have repaired the dam, its averment
has to be taken with a pinch of salt.
“Why should Tamil Nadu be concerned about the safety of the people of Kerala? It is for our ministers and MPs to press the matter and get the work for a new dam going,” said P C George, seven-term MLA who as head of various petition committees had demanded the construction of a new dam.
Tamil Nadu’s five districts are fully dependent on Mullaperiyar Dam for their drinking water supply, irrigation and power production requirements. “The districts of Ramanathapuram, Theni, Dindigul, Sivaganga and Madurai are fully dependent on water from this dam, which otherwise would have flown westward to the Arabian Sea. Tamil Nadu got a dam free of cost as the entire catchment area and dam were built on land owned by Kerala. Though the Tamil Nadu Government claims that it was John Pennicuick, a British engineer, who built the dam with funds from his home, it is bunkum,” said George, who has been in the forefront of an agitation demanding the construction of a new dam.
A 2021 study by United Nation’s think-tank, INWEH, has found that Mullaperiyar Dam, built 881 metres above sea level, is situated in a seismically active zone and has many serious structural flaws.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan is busy mobilizing funds and resources to rebuild Wayanad, which was recently devastated by landslides. “He is waiting for the Mullaperiyar Dam to burst so that he could launch another fund collection drive,” said a dejected George disappointed over the apathy of the State Administration.
