The Mullaperiyar Dam

Name

• The name is derived from a combination of Mullayar and Periya. as the dam is located at the confluence of the Mullayar and Periyar Rivers.



History

• The structure was conceived by the British during the colonial rule to divert the waters of the west-flowing Periyar River eastwards, through the construction of a masonry dam, and taking the water from the reservoir through a tunnel cut across the water shed and Western Ghats to the arid rain shadow regions of Theni, Madurai , Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram Districts of Madras (now Tamil Nadu), then governed by the British.

• The Princely State of Travancore was forced to sign a treaty in 1886 in this regard to lease the dam site for 999 years to the then Madras government. The lease provided the British the rights over "all the waters" of the Mullaperiyar and its catchment, for an annual rent of Rs. 40,000.

• The dam was built by the British Army Engineering corps. The first dam was washed away by floods, and a second masonry dam was constructed in 1895.

Dispute

• The Government of Tamil Nadu has now proposed an increase in the storage level of the dam from the currently maintained 136 feet to 142 feet.
• The Kerala Government has opposed this move, citing safety concerns for the more than hundred year old dam and the thickly populated districts downstream.
Historical background of the dispute
• After Indian independence, the states were reorganised and the area surrounding the location of the dam was merged with Kerala State. Tamil Nadu continued to use the water from Periyar for extending irrigation facilities, and later for power generation on the basis of informal agreements between the governments of the two states.
• In 1970, the two governments signed a formal agreement to renew the 1886 treaty almost completely (this move on the part of Kerala Govt. can only be viewed as irresponsible and with absolutely no foresight) .
• The Idukki Hydroelectric project, located 30 km downstream of the dam, was completed in 1976 by the Kerala government, and is still the major resource for the irrigation and electricity needs of Kerala.
• After Independence the areas downstream of the Mullaperiyar had started to become heavily inhabited. In 1979, safety concerns were raised by Kerala Government subsequent to a minor earthquake, after which a few leaks were detected in the Mullaperiyar dam. A state agency had reported that the structure would not withstand an earthquake above magnitude 6 on the Richter scale.
• The then Tamil Nadu government lowered the storage level from 142.2 feet to the current 136 feet at the request of the Kerala Government to carry out safety repairs, after which it was suggested that the storage level could be raised to the full reservoir level of 152 feet.
• Meanwhile the storage levels in the new Idukki dam were not sufficient for the hydroelectric project to work to its full capacity due to insufficient inflow from its catchment areas.
• This, and the security concerns regarding the downstream inhabitants, especially in the wake of expert views that the area is an earthquake prone region, prompted Kerala to backtrack on the 1970 Agreement in 2000.
• Another valid argument put forward by Kerala on the basis of a study report by state agencies was that the increase in the storage level would result in the loss of habitat to the fauna of Periyar National Park, due to flooding.
• Meanwhile, the Tamil Nadu government had increased its withdrawal from the reservoir, with additional facilities, to cater to the increased demand from newly irrigated areas. It is estimated that the crop losses to Tamil Nadu, because of the reduction in the height of the dam, between 1980 and 2005 is a whopping Rs. 40,000 crores. In the process the farmers of the erstwhile rain shadow areas in Tamil Nadu, who had started a thrice yearly cropping pattern, had to go back to the bi-annual cropping.

Current status

• The dam and its surrounding areas are under the control of the government of Tamil Nadu. The Supreme Court of India has allowed for the storage level to be raised to the previously maintained 142 feet.
• A recent law promulgated by the Kerala government against increasing the storage level has been termed as ‘unconstitutional’ by the Supreme Court of India.
• But so far Kerala has not objected to giving water to Tamil Nadu. Their main objection today concerns the dam’s safety as it is now more than100 years old. Increasing the level would only add to more pressure on the already leaking structure. It is painfully obvious that the people of Kerala are now paying for the foolhardiness of their earlier governments in continuing to assume that i) the structure would survive for 999 years and ii) the state’s water and power needs would never be affected by the diversion of all the precious water to Tamil Nadu .

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