The Tamil Nadu Assembly on Thursday, in a special sitting, adopted a unanimous resolution, calling upon the Kerala government to make suitable amendments to the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2006 to enable the water level of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam to be raised to 142 feet.
Moved by Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, the resolution also asked the Kerala government not to create hurdles to the execution of the remaining strengthening measures for facilitating the water level to be raised to 152 ft eventually.
Under no circumstances would the State give up its rights. The Central government should deploy Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) for the protection of the dam in view of the tense situation prevailing in Tamil Nadu and Kerala.
Though it was condemnable that the Kerala government had a resolution adopted in the Kerala Assembly on December 9 to demand that the water level be lowered to 120 ft, it would not be a proper approach to condemn the Kerala legislature, which had been created under the Constitution. Instead, the sense of regret of Tamil Nadu's people was expressed through the motion, according to the text of the resolution.
Ms Jayalalithaa, who initiated the debate on the resolution, also wrapped it up. In her initial and concluding speeches, she explained the historical account of the Mullaperiyar dam issue and the works carried out by the State government to strengthen the dam during 1980-1994.
A suspicion had arisen that the Kerala government was carrying on the “mischievous campaign” regarding the dam safety possibly for producing more hydropower. The original plan of the Kerala government was to produce 780 megawatt through the Idukki dam, located 50 km downstream of the Mullaperiyar dam.
But, as the dam was not getting enough water, the planned power production could not be achieved. “If there is no Mullaperiyar dam, the entire water will reach Idukki,” she added.
Keywords: Mullaperiyar Dam issue, Tamil Nadu Assembly, special session, Chief MInister Jayalalithaa, resolution
Why can't the two state governments co-sponsor an indenpendent engineering report regarding dam safety and adopt the recommendations. If a monitoring network needs to be set-up to evaluate dam safety, the two states could co-finance such a system. Is there a shortage of engineers and geologists in TN and Kerala? I am afraid not.
If we examine the matter of aging of a construction then the issue is not emotional or who gets water but that of dam safety. When WTC in New York Collapsed it did not fall in a second it took a little time.Likewise getting mad about Dam safety is not correct.Trying to point fingers is also not correct.They bravely ask for water level to be raised to 142 feet not understanding that climate change effect will suddenly create more rains and sudden rise and that sometimes people will not be there in the immediate vicinity to monitor the level. The effect of any rise is not immediately seen but cracks develop and then when any earthquake tremors take place the cracks will widen and it is then that even if the water rises to 135 feet the Dam suddenly bursts.Will the Tamil Nadu or Benign Compliant Kerala Government suddenly bring back to life a 100,000 dead people or give one crore compensation to each dead person?They could not even provide sufficient life jackets.It is Laughable.
Amusing, 'TN Assembly asks Kerala to amend Act for raising water level'. Its just a Political game nothing else. What difference its going to make if we sit in our backyard and discuss things, it is called 'tea kadai bench'.When the centre convened a meeting, we boycott it saying the matter is in court, when the court told us to maintain the water level to 136 feet, we now pass a resolution demanding an increase in level. Does it make any sense? Misleading the public to the core, nothing else.
There have been a total of 45 dam failures in California. Failures have occurred for a variety of reasons, the most common failure being overtopping. Other dams have failed due to specific shortcomings in the dam itself or an inadequate assessment of the surrounding geomorphologic characteristics. The first notable dam failure occurred in 1883 in Sierra County, while the most recent failure occurred in 1965. The greatest catastrophe relating to California dam failures was William Mulholland’s infamous St. Francis Dam, which failed in 1928. Overall, there have been a least 460 deaths from dam failures in California.
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