The explosive and fragile issue of Mullaperiyar, the 123-year-old dam in Kerala owned by Tamil Nadu has reared its head again causing fear psychosis among Keralites working in Chennai and elsewhere in the State following the decision of Kerala to go ahead with the preliminary works for constructing a new dam.
The Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) for River Valley and Hydro Electric Projects functioning under the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in its 18th meeting held last month had accepted Kerala’s proposal to conduct Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) for the construction of a new dam instead of the existing Mullaperiyar Dam. Tamil Nadu Government and political parties atre upset over the development as they claim that the State was held in the dark about the proposal of Kerala and the approval given to it by the Union Ministry.
Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswamy has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday expressing the apprehensions and fears of the people of Tamil Nadu about the move by Kerala to construct a new dam and to decommission the existing dam.
The two States have been locked in a legal battle over the water level to be maintained in the dam. While the Government of Kerala was adamanty that the water level should be maintained at 132 ft, Tamil Nadu had argued that the water level should be restored to its original level of 152 ft. The Supreme Court had ruled that the water level should be maintained at 142 level as a committee of experts appointed by the apex court had found that the dam was safe and all apprehensions were out of place.
When the legal battle over the height at which the water level has to be maintained was at its peak, business establishments owned by Keralites in Tamil Nadu had come under attack by Tamil chauvinist groups during 2012. The districts of Madurai, Theni, Dindigul, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram are fully dependant on Mullaperiyar dam for their irrigation and drinking water needs making the issue a sensitive one. Moreover, the appointment of a Keralite as the editor of an English newspaper in Chennai has created a furore in social media. Tamil chauvinists have questioned the management of the paper about the propriety of appointing a Keralite as the editor of the daily published in Tamil Nadu.
“The actions of the Government of Kerala in having approached the Government of India and the Government of India having entertained the proposal of Kerala are in gross violation of the decree of the Hon’ble Supreme Court dated 7.5.2014 in O.S.No.3 of 2006,” Palaniswamy said in his letter to the Prime Minister.
Local media in Chennai has quoted government officials who claim that the pre-feasibility report for the new dam to be constructed by Kerala would spell disaster for Tamil Nadu as the new reservoir would be much below the tunnel which draws water from Mullaperiyar.. Sam Irwin, assistant executive enginner has been quoted as telling that the existing dam was totally safe and there was no need for any new dam.