Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

Panel report may not help Kerala

Roy Mathew

Thiruvananthapuram: The legal and ecological arguments advanced by the expert committee, appointed by the Kerala Government to study the ecological impact of raising the water level in the Mullaperiyar reservoir, may not help the State much in resisting Tamil Nadu’s demand for increasing the reservoir level.

The Supreme Court has already rejected the State’s argument that the raising of the water level would cause much environmental harm to the Periyar Tiger Reserve. Though the committee has additional data in support of the argument, it may not suffice in view of weaknesses of some of its findings.

The report of the committee, tabled in the Assembly last week, notes that diversion of additional quantities of water by Tamil Nadu would require permission from the Chief Wildlife Warden. However, it had not been the State’s argument that Tamil Nadu’s rights had been extinguished at the time of declaration of the Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary. As per the Periyar lease agreement, Tamil Nadu has rights over water falling on 8,000 acres. This is not being exceeded by Tamil Nadu’s demand for raising the water level.

Moreover, the ecological arguments can go against Kerala’s own proposal for construction of a new dam 1,300 metres downstream of the present dam. Work on a new dam would cause much more disturbance than raising of the water level.

The committee recommends that all engineering efforts to raise the water level should be put on hold. It appears that the committee is under the impression that engineering works, requiring movement of men and machinery, are required to increase the water level. Currently, no work is going on at the dam site, and all that is required to raise the water is the lowering of spillway shutters.

The study says that the increase in water level will hit the critical grasslands of the Periyar ecosystem and could severely endanger the food chain of the tiger. The grasslands referred to here came up following lowering of the reservoir level in 1979 and is only about three decades old.

The committee draws attention to the signs of distress and fear visible amongst the tribal people and children of settlers on the banks of the reservoir. It seems to have confused between the fear of people living downstream over possible dam failure and concerns of squatters who have encroached upon the banks. The latter are legally evictable settlers as Government policy only supports regularisation of pre-1977 settlements.

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