Mika is back

Mika Hakinnen, two time world champion whom Michael Schumacher once described as a driver he respected and enjoyed racing with is back into Formula 1. Not as a race driver but as a test driver. A press release from McLaren Mercedes racing team says that Mika will take over from Pedro DeLa Rosa from the 30th of Nov 2006. Nevermind that Mika is not back on the competitive racing track. The feedback he can give as a test driver should help fine tune things up in the McLaren Formula 1 team. After the departure of Adrian Newey (aerodynamics) McLaren seem to have lost an edge they used to have in car design.

I for one would love to read about Mika's lap timings and test results from now on. The car must have changed from how it was in 2001. The last race Mika drove was the Japanese GP in 2001. Welcome back Mika Hakkinen. Now why am I hoping he'll start racing sometime soon?

McLaren press release

Supreme Court judgement - Mullaperiyar - Feb 2006

After trying to get the original judgement delivered by Supreme Court in the Mullaperiyar dam issue, I found the judgement delivered by Supreme Court. The following are some specifics pertaining to this issue.

Case No - 386 of 2001

Petitioner - Mullaperiyar Environmental Protection Forum

Respondent - Union of India & Ors

Date of Judgement - 27th Feb 2006

Bench comprising of - Y.K. Sabharwal, C.K.Thakker & P.K. Balasubramanyan

The judgement exhibits in a rather crystal clear manner in which the Supreme Court of India has looked into various facets of the case and came to a conclusion on this issue. The arguments raised by both sides are as follows. Before getting into the details, here's a short background. In the year 1979 water leakage was detected in the gallery of the dam and the full reservoir storage level was brought down to 136 ft. The Central Water Commission [CWC] was brought to inspect the safety of the dam and come up with its recommendations. The state of Kerala raised reservations to the CWC report and it's representative appended a dissent note stating that he water level could not be raised beyond 136 ft.

Kerala's argument

# Technically the life of any dam is 50 years and this dam was already over a 100 yrs old and hence this dam was well beyond it's safe useful life.

# If anything happens to the dam, the disaster could completely wipe out the three adjoining districts in Kerala.

# The dam was constructed at a time (1887 - 1895) when the design and testing processes were at it's infancy in British India and hence there's been no real measure of stress and tension because the dam has been holding water in it since the first time it was filled.

# The dam was situated in a region prone to frequent tremors and an earthquake could cause large scale destruction of life and property.

# The CWC which did the initial study didn't take into consideration all points raised by the official of the State of Kerala. Hence their recommendations can't be considered as binding on it. It was also added that he CWC was not the highest technical body in the country for giving technical advise.

# The reservoir of the dam is part of the Periyar Wildlife Santuary and is a 'Project Tiger' reserve. The loss of flora and fauna upon increase of water level would be invaluable. The raising of the storage would also affect the ecology and economy of the State of Kerala. The totaly area covered currently is 777 sq.kms.

# The agreement between the Madras Presidency and the State of Travancore executed in 1886 was null and void since it was done under pressure and was written to be valid for 999 yrs.

Tamilnadu's counter argument

# The CWC was the highest technical body with sufficient expertise on the subject. The CWC had inspected the dam and found that several allegations raised by the State of Kerala were incorrect and baseless.

# The CWC report allows the State of Tamilnadu to raise the water level to 142 ft after certain strengthening measures (this was already done immediatly after the CWC report) are undertaken and upon completion of the Earthen bund, Baby dam and other measures the height was be raised to the full reservoir level of 152 ft.

# The Kerala govt did not co-operate in this matter and refused to allow raising the height of storage to 142 ft.

# It was not open to the State of Kerala to not co-operate and accept the recommendations and suggestions of the CWC.

# Increasing of water level from 136 ft to 152 ft (the full reservoir) level increase the inundated area by another 11.6 sq.kms. The percentage of area that would be submerged would be 1.44% which is meagre.

# The increase in strorage level would not affect the flora and fauna and would only better the wildlife habitat. There will also be an increase in tourism which would translate into higher revenue earnings for the State of Kerala. The increased aquatic life would mean more revenue too since the State of Kerala had the fishing rights in the reservoir.

The Supreme Court's observation

# The water level on the dam was brought down to 136 ft to facilitate Tamilnadu to conduct strengthening measures.

# The total area of the sanctuary is about 777 square kilometers. The leased area of about 8,000 acres is a part of the total area. By raising the water level, the boundaries of the sanctuary do not get altered. The total area of the sanctuary remains 777 square kilometers.

# It is on record that animals particularly elephants and tigers like it when the water level touches the forest line. Birds and animals love water spread and exhibit their exuberant pleasure with heavy rains filling the reservoir resulting in lot of greenery and ecological environment around. The apprehension regarding adverse impact on environment and ecology have been found by the experts to be unfounded.

# Regarding the issue as to the safety of the dam on water level being raised to 142 ft. from the present level of 136 ft, the various reports have examined the safety angle in depth including the viewpoint of earthquake resistance. The apprehensions have been found to be baseless.

# Despite copious rains the Idukki reservoir was filled only to the extent of 57.365 tmc though it's full storage was 70.500 tmc. The Idukki dam which is situated further downstream ahead of the Mullaperiyar dam can take in excess of 11 tmc water should the worst happen.

# The concerns raised about earthquake appear to be baseless since an affidavit failed in April 2004 showed that no damage was caused to the structure.

# The experts having reported about the safety of the dam and the Kerala Government having adopted an obstructionist approach. (Observed twice in the judgement)

The Supreme Court goes on and concludes the following on this matter which is very concise and clear to both sides.

Under the aforesaid circumstances, we permit State of Tamil Nadu to carry out further strengthening measures as suggested by CWC and hope that State of Kerala would cooperate in the matter. The State of Kerala and its officers are restrained from causing any obstruction. After the strengthening work is complete to the satisfaction of the CWC, independent experts would examine the safety angle before the water level is permitted to be raised to 152 ft. The writ petition and the connected matters are disposed of by permitting the water level of the Mullaperiyar dam being raised to 142 ft. and by permitting the further strengthening of the dam as aforesaid.

Disclaimer : The views expressed in the article are simply a condensed form of the Supreme Court judgement. The author assumes no legal responsibility from anyone using it's content in part or in full and will not assume any liabilites for any consequences arising out of it's usage. This article is written in good faith to present a fairly balanced point of view to an issue which is of importance to both Kerala and Tamilnadu. This article has also tried to be fair and objective in putting forth the facts of the matter and has stuck to the Supreme Court verdict closely. The author does not intend to violate any law and would be glad to comply with existing regulations of any part of this article is offending or unwarranted.

Blog rechristened

'Pacem in terris' which means 'Peace on earth' is the new identity I have given this blog. With this makeover I have promised myself to be more regular in posting to it and voicing my opinion on a number of issues which strike a chord.

Mullaperiyar and Madhani

Just got reminded of the camaraderie exhibited by Chief Minister VS Achuthanandhan of Kerala upon assuming office in Kerala with Chief Minister Karunanadhi of Tamilnadu. There were a couple of letters exchanged between them about the fate of the PDP leader Abdul Naser Madhani currently lodged in the Coimbatore Central Prison undergoing trial for alleged involvement in the Coimbatore bomb blasts case of 1998. They even met in Madras and the Kerala CM's delegation visited Madhani in the Coimbatore prison. Sherlock Holmes would have seen a link between something gone awry in one of these talks to have irritated the Kerala Chief Minister who has been going hammer and tongs against the Tamilnadu Chief Minister ever since and Mullaperiyar appears to be caught in the cross fire. Or all this could be simply a figment of Holmes' imagination, who knows?

Mullaperiyar dam

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.