None of the tremors had any impact on Mullaperiyar dam: Tamil Nadu
Taking into consideration Tamil Nadu's stand that the tremors in Idukki were mild and have had no impact on the Mullaperiyar dam, the Supreme Court-appointed Empowered Committee is seeking a report from the Geological Survey of India on the number of recent earthquakes (and their intensity).
Informed sources told The Hindu that the Prime Minister's Office had forwarded to the committee, the memorandum submitted by Kerala MPs to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh requesting him to persuade Tamil Nadu to accept the State's proposal to construct a new dam and reduce water level to 120 ft. Sources said the PMO was informed that the committee was seized of the issue.
The PMO also sent the letter written by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa objecting to the move to constitute a team of experts to formulate a contingency response by the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) for Mullaperiyar dam in case it bursts. This issue had also been closed, sources said.
Kerala had said that the 25 earthquakes or tremors in the vicinity of the dam recently had threatened the structure, causing serious concern to the 50 lakh people living downstream.
The Centre for Earth Science Studies had stated that if there was a tremor of magnitude 6 or more, the dam would collapse. The fear was further heightened by the incessant rain in the catchment area, taking the storage level beyond 136 ft.
Kerala pointed out that on November 10, 2009 when the Supreme Court directed Tamil Nadu to maintain status quo, the water level in the dam was 131.8 ft and storage beyond this was a violation of the Supreme Court's status quo order. “Reduction in water level from 136 ft to 120 ft had become absolutely necessary in the light of recent developments,” it said. “The storage could be reduced by diversion through a tunnel by Tamil Nadu and siphoning the water downstream.”
Tamil Nadu had refuted Kerala's stand and reiterated that the dam was safe and that it had been permitted by the Supreme Court to raise the water level up to 142 ft and further to 152 ft, after completing the remaining strengthening measures. “The false propaganda of 22 tremors in the last four months weakening the dam is being made without any basis. In fact, there have been only four tremors in the current year and, in fact, such tremors have been occurring over many years. But, none of them has had any impact on the Mullaperiyar dam as their magnitudes were far below 4.9 and are classified as ‘slight' by the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD).
Keywords: Mullaperiyar dam row, Tamil Nadu-Kerala relationship, water rights, Supreme Court Empowered Committee, Mullaperiyar report
the earthquakes in Idukki,Kerala where not mild. one earthquake was of magnitude 3.9 and caused residents of the area to wake at 3:00 am due to its loud thundery noise. keralites are scared that this tremors could be warnings before some major earthquake and has approached Roorkey IIT to conduct further studies of possibility of a major tremor.
'Don't take Committee seeking report from Geological Survey of India' Why not Mr.Venkatesan? Are you reporting an empower committee decisions or putting your own sentiments in it?
I think the issue that everyone is overlooking is the lives of those 50 lakh people who stand in the way of impending doom. It's a 116 yr old dam!!! There's bound to be problems that need to be addressed. Instead of falling prey to our baser political grievances and greed, maybe the two governments should actually try and work together in the interest of the safety of so many lives. What have we been told? Better be safe than sorry
It is sad to see most of the major news channels readily take side with KL Govt.Projecting TN as the villain here as a ruthless state having no care for life of fellow Indians.All these inspite of the SC's 06 order being available for all to see.A good govt/media should use findings by experts to calm people down,but in TN&KL quite the opposite is happening.As it is obvious to the TN masses Kerala's true intentions,they are against Kerala's move & showing their opposition by all means.It is obvious to TN people because of Kerala not allowing to implement SC'06 verdict by bring up its own laws.TN govt is no saint either,it has played its part of vote bank politics in supporting Kudankulam protestors' brought laws against court's verdict on Rajiv case.I truely believe that most of TN people are against TN govt's stand in these issues.I hope that govt's in future take decisions keeping in mind the good of all its people Don't bow down to pressure from rival parties or future elections.
The argument that SC had ordered to maintain status quo and so the water should be kept at 131.8 feet is not proper I feel. When SC says status quo it has to mean what has been the accepted level which is 136 ft or 142 feet whatever it was. If the dam was dry at the time of signing the order it cannot mean that no water should be stored.
Narrow sentiments have been whipped up in Both the states by arousing unnecessary fears among masses. In kerala the fears created are that the dam is not safe, it may break or breach in case an earthquake, and so on. In TN side the fears instilled are that Kerala is going to deprive water supply to TN by reducing the water storage level to 120ft and it is going to impose newer conditions for the water supply from the proposed new dam. One phenomenan that could be noticed at both sides is that the organisations/parties that never cared a wee bit for the exploitation of small/marginal farmers, landless peasants and agri labourers are up with arms,mobilise crowds in thousands and organise some adventurous stunts in the name of protests and movements. All sorts of divisive tendencies and fanaticism are fomented in TN side to the extent of staging a war against Kerala Govt (funny) to recapture Idukki and other districts. No oppurtunity was lost to talk about recapturing Kolar & Tirupati too
This issue seem to have grown out of proportion. The agreement itself is a blatent violation of the rights of people of Kerala, not only the current generation but also the future generation, as they are bound by an age old agreement which is highly tilted in favour of the then powerful colonial government. We have no right to encroach into our children's rights. For that matter, no agreement can be made virtually for an infinite period, a maximum of 100 years seems reasonable. But these contentions should have been made by Kerala when the dispute started. Now, it is not at all a resource sharing issue but a looming threat on the security of people downstream. When a group of experts say the dam is safe and some others say it is not, how can we rest assured? After all, they are also human beings and not God sent angels. If those claiming that the dam is weak are wrong then it is just a statement went wrong but what if the others are wrong??
Here is a SIMPLE SOLUTION: Let Kerala build a new dam and replace the existing lease with new lease. The only thing to change in the lease is the new dam name. Kerala wants the new dam ONLY for the safety of its people, so I'm sure they will agree to create the new lease. TN will get the same water, same lease terms, but just new dam! This is an easy way out and will benefit both states and people!
I don't know what Kerala is trying to prove here; earthquakes of small magnitude happens everywhere round the year.They talk about 25, but don't talk about the magnitude,If we start calculating the small ones, then Chennai would have had atleast 100 such tremors in the year 2011, which was never felt by the people because of its negligible magnitude.The court should not get dragged into such arguments.The question should be very simple, what was the magnitude?The statement from The Centre for Earth Science Studies was the most irresponsible one, they said a magnitude of 6 or more would collapse the dam,true, but they failed to add,such magnitude would collapse most of the structures and buildings in both the states given the nature of soil and the construction technology we adopt.Life is build on hope and not on fear. If we start giving too much importance to fear, then we cannot even get out of the house, there is always a chance of we getting hit by a truck.
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