MULLAPERIYAR DAM INSPECTED BY THE EMPOWERED COMMITTEE:IS THE COMMITTEE RIGGED?

 The empowered committee of the supreme court including C.D. Thatte and D.K.Metha inspected the mulaperiyar dam on dec 24 in the presence of both the state officials.

There were reports from the kerala officials that the committee was in favor of the tamil nadu officials and had been harsh on the kerala counterparts.It is even reported that the committee even asked the chief engineer P. Lathika to shut up when she started making her ideas public.If the officials themselves were not allowed to speak in front of the committee, it raises doubts about the decision committee will take on the issue.

Among the main points highligthed by the empowered committee includes:

1. Dam safety guidelines taken in a time-bound manner.
2. Removal of trees along the earth dam and protection of its slopes,
3. Rubber pitching along the upstream phase,
4. Relaying wearing coat on top of the Baby dam,
5. Undertaking a study on the possibility of an extra outlet in Mullaperiyar
6. Creation of blocks at the level of 155 feet around the reservoir, 
7. Marking of spillways in bold,
8. Making the road between Vallakkadavu and the dam motorable at the earliest,

All though these points mark the expertise of the committee, it is widely criticized that the committee had no proper knowledge about the engineering safety aspects of a dam. If the exam is judged by the illiterate, then the result is obvious........

C.D. Thatte and D.K.Metha

Tamil nadu Response to the Mullaperiyar Dam Issue

Tamil nadu Response to the Mullaperiyar Dam Issue

Kerala has been repeatedly trying to make Tamil nadu accept the imortance of building a new dam. But the response from the other end has been cold. Why? The fact that Mullaperiyar Dam though in Kerala is controlled by Tamil nadu might prove to be the reason. The money that Tamil nadu pays Kerala for the amount of water it takes is too meagre when considering similar such aggrements in india and abroad.

Hence the fear of Tamil nadu that they may loose the contract and control of the dam if a new dam is built is logical.But what seems to be disregarded is the danger that this dam poses to the people of the neighboring districts in Kerala. Even the studies and findings by the IIT Kanpur professors seems to be not acceptable to them.

Further the move by Tamil nadu government to advertise in various Malayalam dailies using certain supreme court comments taken out of context has been criticized like anything by the apex body itself. The furour in that state has even forced the home minister of india to take sides with his home state in this issue.That further raised another day of outrage in the media of the country.

The end result has been that various means of travel between the states has been widely affected .Buses has been cancelled and many film shootings of Kerala films has been forced to stop in Tamil nadu. There is even reports that many groups in Tamil nadu is brainwashing the tamil workers in Kerala and making them to come back to Tamil nadu and cry out in the media how badly they were being treated in Kerala.

The close relations between both the states has been widely affected and there has arisen a sense of enmity among the people. Whenever we see a Tamilian these days, this issue comes to our minds.Hopes the issue is solved soon.