Thursday, January 5, 2012

Mullaperiyar : New dam


From quite a long time the Mullaperiyar dam issue has been going on,with Kerala and Tamil Nadu not coming to terms over the strengthening of the dam, which actually left the lives of the people downstream at high risk and peril. The two Governments were never able to come into terms with each other for strengthening the dam and the Tamil  Nadu Government was bringing irrelevant matters and making unrealistic excuses why the dam needs not be rebuilt like comparing Mullaperiyar dam with the Kallanai Dam and also bringing out the contract signed ages ago.

          The risk kept rising as no progress was found in this matter as both Governments were being contradicting with each other for some time now. And now Kerala Government has decided to put forth a new deal for the lives of the people living there. The CM has decided that they should rather construct a new dam over the river than strengthen the existing one. And also being favorable to Tamil Nadu, he has told that Kerala will construct the dam on their own expense and also that Kerala and Tamil Nadu can share the authority of the dam, ie joint control over the dam.

          Atleast now the TN Government should accept the terms and let the construction begin. Also the other tiny matters can be left for laters, as they can be negotiated or left for the final judgement from the Supreme Court. Hoping that they come to terms with Kerala government now atleast, cause we are more concerned about the lives of the people living downstream than the profit made by the dam. Also there are lots of people living at the border who depend on the water from the dam for their daily lively hood. Hoping that the Mullaperiyar dam controversy comes to an end with this all new deal put forward.


The Response :
     It seems they are not willing to accept the new dam proposal. They still seem to stick with their claims that Mullaperiyar dam is still strong enough and a question of even building a new dam doesn't even arise. Why are they so damn adamant that they will not co-operate with Kerala government , even when given equal power over the dam and all of the water. The conflict continues and both sides are still not able to come to terms, as Kerala tries to somehow come into a compromise, the Tamil Nadu government seems to turn its back on Kerala government. Why can't they just deal with the paperwork later and get on with the work? It feels like they don't understand the situation or they don't care even after knowing.

As per todays newspaper (7/1/12) :
     The Kerala Cm has decided the there will be no joint ownership for the proposed new dam, the dam will be completely owned and run by Kerala government and as for the water supply regulations. There will be a team comprising of engineers from both states and will try to make it an independent unit. There are already dams which follow the same norms between the two states. The CM also mentioned that a dam within a state should be under the control of that state. Well what happens now? Both states seem to hold on to their own views still , Kerala wanting a new dam , and Tamil Nadu opposing the idea and the need for a new dam. The controversy continues, will this be like a never ending argument which will only end when the dam collapses , and then what will both parties do?? 

2 comments:

  1. hmmm...my sentiments exactly.
    I also wrote about this in my blog here.

    ReplyDelete