The 110 year old Mullaperiyar dam is in the middle of another water controversy. Tamilnadu which is still battling Karnataka on sharing of Kaveri waters gets yet another one on it's hands and it so hard to see which side is apolitical. It all started with a Feb 2006 Supreme Court verdict allowing Tamilnadu to raise the dams storage to 142ft from the current storage level of 136ft. The apex court would have taken most/all of the concerns of both sides before delivering it's verdict in this matter and one of the prime areas it would have looked at would be the safety of the century old dam made of slime and mortar.
This verdict surely didn't go down well with Kerala which promulgated an ordinance in it's assembly stalling any increase of the reservoir storage level. The Kerala government has also raised it's concerns about dam safety and the fall out of a disaster should the dam burst are all valid apprehensions which need to be considered. The Tamilnadu government and all it's politicians cutting across party lines are sticking to the stand on implementing the Supreme Court order with the AIADMK and MDMK gunning for the Chief Minister's scalp. This has caused tension on both sides and politicians raising the ante each time by rhetoric directed at inciting passion.
What makes me comment on this issue? As a concerned citizen I hate it when two federal states in the dominion of India fight with each other as though they are competing countries. I can't but refrain from using the cliched 'like India v/s Pakistan' phrase. I am a regular visitor to Vallakadavu, Thodupuzha, Moolamattom and other places in Kerala which are right in the eye of the storm about this issue and could be wiped out from the face of the earth should the worst happen. On another note, I live in Coimbatore which is a multi-cultural, mlulti-lingual and plural society and has a large number of Malayalee population and is one of the main transit points into Tamilnadu from Kerala.
Traffic between Coimbatore and Palakkad via Walayar and via Pollachi was stopped yesterday because of alleged provocation from the Kerala government by bringing in Navy personnel to the dam site under the pretext of inspecting it's safety. Now, this act of bringing in people to the dam to inspect it's safety should have been intimated to the Tamilnadu side by the Kerala government and going by the press this was done. However, good statesmanship would have called for keeping all these actions in abeyance till the Centre govt mediated interstate talks scheduled for the 29th of Nov was held.
In order to understand the importance of the traffic between Kerala and Tamilnadu through Walayar one has to gauge a number of aspects. The NH-47 is the road that links Coimbatore and Palakkad and Walayar is one of the highest revenue generating checkposts in India. Almost all of the goods transported out of Kerala to the North passes through Walayar and the movement of people between the states is the highest in this sector. The Sabarimala season has just started and a large number of pilgrims from Tamilnadu, Karnataka and Andra Pradesh were stranded because of this blockade which somehow has political overtones to it. The following are some questions which can be raised:-
# A national highway was blocked by a group of people (reports suggest that they were about 500). Why didn't the state police remove them and clear the highway for traffic?
# The argument that these were farmers doesn't hold good for Walayar and KK Chavady. There aren't any farmers who would have been affected by this problem in this region and the Aliyar dam has sufficient water this season to cater to the irrigation needs of the Pollachi region which is the agricultural region of Coimbatore.
Almost all of the national media (NDTV, IBN, Times NOW) are sided with Kerala's point of view and I haven't seen statements by the Tamilnadu ministers. On a lighter note this could be due to the fluent manner in which Kerala ministers can converse fluently in English. Surely Tamilnadu has a point and that is about the lost crop each year due to lack of water. Kerala is a water surplus state and Tamilnadu is a power surplus state. Why can't we complement these with each other? Share power with Kerala which undergoes half hour to an hour of load shedding each day in the Summer. Why aren't we seeing unity in diversity? Why are our politicians playing power games? What can we do about the problem and get both sides to move ahead?
The following are genuine concerns that need to be addressed :-
# The safety of the dam should be of prime importance. All concerns raised by the Kerala side should be studied, investigated and addressed by a mutually agreeable authority. This is an aspect which should be deviod of any political overtones and no compromise should be done on an issue which hangs like a sword across the necks of the people in Idukki, Ernakulam and Kottayam district in Kerala.
# The reservoir storage in this dam when raised is going to inundate more areas in the Kerala side which will need to be addressed in terms of loss of flora and fauna and relocation people.
# Both sides should refrain from rhetoric and not talk anything more about this issue till the talks scheduled for the 29th are finished.
I am no polticial analyst nor am I an authority on dam safety. I am just a concerned citizen in the Union of India and have loyalities towards it's constitution. I hope this doesn't escalate into a Kaveri sort of dispute where there anti-Tamil attitude in Karnataka and the fallout of such actions would be despicable. We belong to the same country, this should be the mantra in the minds of both sides. Having put forth my views, I guess it's time to simply wait for the likes of Arundhati (Roy) and Medha (Patkar) to come and take over this issue. Now that would put a different spin to this issue which we can't predict.
