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Amid Mullaperiyar row, Kerala governor calls for building new dam
Khan said Mullaperiyar is an old dam in Kerala and shared the concern of the people living downstream
A day after the Supreme Court directed Kerala and Tamil Nadu to discuss the water level in Mullaperiyar dam cordially and take a decision to cap it, Kerala governor Arif Mohammad Khan on Tuesday said it’s time to decommission the 125-year-old structure and build a new one.
Talking to reporters, Khan said Mullaperiyar is an old dam and shared the concern of the people living downstream. “It is a fact, it is an old dam and efforts should be made to build a new one. Let the court deal with issues between two states over this and arrive at an amicable solution,” he said here, adding that upcoming talks between two states will break the ice.
One of the oldest contentions between the two neighbouring states, the dam issue turned up again after a resident of Idukki, Joes Joseph approached the apex court with a plea that water level should not go above 139 feet because of heavy rains in the area, quoting the 2018 Supreme Court order when the state faced a similar situation. Tamil Nadu opposed it vehemently, saying the court had fixed the maximum water level at 142 feet in 2014, and there is no emergency to lower it.
The Kerala government has been pressing for a new dam for many years, citing frequent tremors and changing rain patterns in the Idukki district where the old dam is situated, but Tamil Nadu opposes it fearing the loss of control over it. After the 2014 verdict, Tamil Nadu carried out repairs and retrofitted, but Kerala maintained that these measures were not enough to check the dam’s age and durability.
During the recent floods and landslides in Kerala, many took to social media demanding a new dam because of recurring floods in the catchment and downstream areas of the dam. Some even termed it a “water bomb.” Actor Prithviraj Sukumaran also joined the bandwagon. His effigies were burnt at several places in Tamil Nadu. Mullaperiyar is an emotional issue for Tamil Nadu as many agrarian districts are heavily dependent on the dam.
Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday dispelled any immediate threat to the dam but reiterated the state’s long-pending demand for a new dam. “On social media, some people are carrying out outright alarmist propaganda, but it is not good. This will create panic among people,” he said.
Mullaperiyar dam was built under an agreement between the erstwhile royal family of Travancore and the British administration in 1886 to take water to Tamil Nadu for irrigation. Post Indian independence, the dam became part of Kerala, and since then, its main share of water flows to Tamil Nadu.
