Mullaperiyar dam 450 families near zone to be evacuated

TRIVANDRUM - With the deadlock over the Mullaperiyar dam issue continuing unresolved, the Kerala government has decided to evacuate 450 families from the immediate dangerous zone.

State Advocate General K P Dandapani conveyed the decision to the high court on Friday. However, the court came down heavily on the government for its failure to figure the steps to avert a failure of the 116-year-old dam.

The court wanted to find out whether three dams on the downstream of Mullaperiyar dam could contain the water to be discharged from the Mullapperiyar reservoir if the dam collapsed. The AG could not provide details of the present water level in the Idukki, Cheruthoni and Kulamavu dams. The AG told the court that the government had also decided to install new digital seismograph and censors for prior information of danger.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had already initiated the process for talks with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to resolve the dispute between the two states amicably.

The major topic of discussion would be the Kerala government’s decision to reduce the water level in the Mullapperiyar dam from 136 ft to 120 ft as a temporary measure to avert dam failure and to build a new dam as a permanent solution. Tamil Nadu has been opposing both the proposals claiming that the dam was strong and its storage level should be raised to 142 feet.

But the Kerala Chief Minister has pointed out in a letter to the TN CM that the dam will not be able to withstand an earthquake of 6 on the Richter scale.

He said that 27 minor tremors the area witnessed since July was a pointer to a larger earthquake. Chandy also took this to the notice of the Prime Minister and Congress president Sonia Gandhi during his meetings in New Delhi on Friday.

Chandy informed that Kerala was not against giving water to Tamil Nadu, but at the same time argued that a new dam was needed as the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam was frequently hit by tremors.

Meanwhile, local legislator Biji Mol, who is fasting near the dam demanding a new dam to replace Mullaperiyar, was arrested and removed after his health condition deteriorated after six days. She has been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit of a private hospital after she was arrested from the fasting spot at Chappath near Mullaperiyar.

The Communist Party of India to which Biji Mol belonged deputed R Ajith, legislator from Vaikkom, to continue the indefinite fast. Ajtih started the fast in the afternoon. Hundreds of people thronged the venue where the legislator sat and expressed solidarity with the protestors.