Mullaperiyar Dam: Difference between revisions
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===Current Status=== |
===Current Status=== |
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The dam and its surrounding areas are under the Control of the Government of Tamilnadu. The Supreme Court of India has allowed to raise the Storage level to 142 feet. <ref> [http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb282006/national2155542006227.asp News in Deccan |
The dam and its surrounding areas are under the Control of the Government of Tamilnadu. The Supreme Court of India has allowed to raise the Storage level to 142 feet. <ref> [http://www.deccanherald.com/deccanherald/feb282006/national2155542006227.asp News in Deccan Herald]</ref> A recent law promulgated by Kerala Goverment against increasing the storage level has been objected to by the Supreme Court<ref>[http://www.hindu.com/2006/09/09/stories/2006090911840400.htm The Hindu,September 9,2006]</ref> of India terming it as unconstitutional. |
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==Notes== |
==Notes== |
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Revision as of 04:53, 24 September 2006
Mullaperiyar Dam is constructed over the headwaters of Periyar River river in Kerala, India. The Periyar National Park,Thekkady is located around the Periyar reservoir formed by the backwaters of the this dam.
Name
The name is derived from the portmanteau of Mullayar and Periyar.As the dam is located after confluence of Mullayar river and Periyar river, the river and hence dam came to be called as Mullaperiyar[1] [2].
History
The stucture was concieved by the British during the Colonial rule to divert the waters of periyar river eastwards [3] through the construction of a masonry dam, and taking the water from the reservoir through a tunnel cut across the watershed and Western Ghats to arid rain shadow regions of Theni, Madurai District, Sivaganga District and Ramanathapuram Districts of Tamilnadu[4] . The Princely State of Travancore [5] was forced [6] 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 the floods,and a second Masonry Dam was constructed in 1895.
Disputes
The Government of Tamil Nadu has proposed to increase the storage level of the dam from the currently maintained 136 feet to 142 feet.The Kerala Government has opposed this move stating saftey concerns of the more than hundred year old bridge especially to the thickly populated districts downstream.
Historical Background of Dispute
After the Indian independence the states was reorganised and the area surrounding dam location was merged with Kerala State. Tamil Nadu continued to use the water from Periyar for extending irrigation facilities , and later for power generation [7] on the basis of informal agreements between the governments of the two States. In 1970 the Kerala and Tamilnadu Governments signed a formal agreement to renew the 1886 treaty almost completely.The The Idukki Hydro electic project, located 50 kms down stream was completed in 1976, by the Kerala Government is still the major resource for irrigation and electricity needs of Kerala. After the Independence the areas down stream of the mullaperiyar had started heavily inhabited.In 1979, safety Concerns were raised by Kerala Government after a minor earthquake, few leaks were detected in the Mullaperiyar dam. A State Agency [8] had reported that structure would not stand an earthquake above magnitude of 6 in the Richter magnitude scale. The then Tamil Nadu Goverment lowered the Storage level to current 136 feet(from 142.2 feet) on the request of the Kerala Government to carry out saftey repairs, after which it was suggested that the storage level could be raised to Full reservoir level of 152 feet.The Storage levels in the new Idukki dam were also not sufficient to work to its full capcity due to insufficient inflow from its catchment areas. Citing security concerns of the downstream inhabitation, prompted Kerala in 2000, to backtrack on the 1970 Agreement. Other argument put forward by Kerala on basis of report on a study conducted State Agencies [9] suggested loss of habitat due to inundation due to the increase of the Storage level. The Tamilnadu Government in meantime had increased its withdrawal from the reservoir with additional facilites to cater to the increased demand from newly irrigated areas.This article [10] estimates 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 Tamilnadu. The Supreme Court of India has allowed to raise the Storage level to 142 feet. [11] A recent law promulgated by Kerala Goverment against increasing the storage level has been objected to by the Supreme Court[12] of India terming it as unconstitutional.
Notes
- ^ which now does not exist as a river as it is part of the backwater/reservoir
- ^ The main river is called Periyar river
- ^ which flows westwards to the Arabian Sea
- ^ Which were Under the British Rule as part of the Madras Province
- ^ Presently part of kerala, was a protectorate under the British rule at that time.
- ^ R. Krishnakumar, Frontline, Volume 23 - Issue 05, Mar. 11 - 24, 2006.
- ^ In 1959.
- ^ CESS, Centre for Earth Science Studies, Thiruvananthapuram
- ^ A study on the impact of raising of water level in the Mullaperiyar reservoir of the Periyar Tiger Reserve was carried out by scientists from the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI), the Tropical Botanic Garden and Research Institute (TBGRI), Centre for Water Resource Development and Management (CWRDM) and the Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History (SACON)
- ^ E Gopinath
- ^ News in Deccan Herald
- ^ The Hindu,September 9,2006
Further Reading
