Mullaperiyar Dam (Malayalam: മുല്ലപെരിയാര് അണകെട്ട്) is constructed over the headwaters of the Periyar River in 1895 Kerala, India. The Periyar National Park, Thekkady is located around the Periyar reservoir formed by the backwaters of this dam. It is operated by the Government of Tamil Naduaccording to a 999-year lease agreement made during erstwhile British colonial rule.
Name
The name is derived from a portmanteau of Mullaiyar and Periyar. As the dam is located after the confluence of the Mullayar and Periyar Rivers, the river and hence the dam came to be called Mullaperiyar.
History
Periyar river is a west-flowing river of Kerala State. The river flows its full course entirely through Kerala only, and derives its water almost exclusively from catchment area (Drainage basin) inside the Kerala State. The dam stops the west flowing river to form a reservoir, which is also exclusively located in Kerala. From the reservoir, Tamil Nadu collects water to the eastern side of Western Ghats via a tunnel.
On 29 October 1886, a lease indenture for 999 years was made between Maharaja of Travancore, Vishakham Thirunal and Secretary of State for India for Periyar irrigation works. The lease agreement was signed by Dewan of Travancore V Ram Iyengar and State Secretary of Madras State (under British rule) J C Hannington. This lease was made after constant pressure on Travancore King by the British for 24 years. The lease indenture inter alia granted full right, power and liberty to construct, make and carry out on the leased land and to use exclusively when constructed, made and carried out all such irrigation works and other works ancillary thereto to Secretary of State for India (now Tamil Nadu). The agreement was to give 8000 acres of land for the reservoir and another 100 acres to construct the dam. And the tax for each acre was 5 RS per year. When India became independent, the lease got expired. After several failed attempts to renew the agreement in 1958, 1960, and 1969, the agreement was renewed in 1970 when C Achutha Menon was Kerala Chief Minister. According to the renewed agreement, the tax per acre was 30 RS, and for the electricity generated in Lower Camp using Mullaperiyar water, the charge was 12 RS per kiloWatt per hour. This was without the consent of the Legislative Assembly of Kerala. This agreement expired in 2000. However, Tamil Nadu still uses the water and the land, and the Tamil Nadu government has been paying to the Kerala government for the past 50 years 2.5 lakhs Rs as tax per year for the whole land and 7.5 lakhs RS per year as surcharge for the total amount of electricity generated. [3]
A first dam was built by the British Corps of Royal Engineers. After the first dam was washed away by floods, a second dam was built in 1895. it is built with stone and Surki ( A mixture of sugar and Calcium oxide).
The dam's purpose was to divert the waters of the west-flowing Periyar River eastward, taking the water from the reservoir through a tunnel cut across the watershed and Western Ghats to the arid rain shadow regions of Theni, Madurai District, Sivaganga District and Ramanathapuram districts of Tamil Nadu.[4] Although Kerala claims that the agreement was forced on the then princely State ofTravancore, presently part of Kerala, the pact was re-validated in 1970 by Kerala and Tamil Nadu.[5] The lease provided the British the rights over "all the waters" of the Mullaperiyar and its catchment basin, for an annual rent of Rs. 40,000.
Disputes
The government of Tamil Nadu has proposed an increase in the storage level of the dam from the currently maintained 136 feet (41 m) to 142 feet (43 m)[citation needed]. The Kerala government has opposed this move, citing safety concerns for the more than hundred year old bridge and especially for the thickly populated 4 districts downstream.
Current status
Tamil Nadu is the custodian of the dam and its surrounding areas. In 2006, the Supreme Court of India has allowed for the storage level to be raised to 142 feet (43 m).[16] However, the Kerala Government promulgated a new "Dam Safety Act" against increasing the storage level of the dam, which has not been objected by the Supreme Court. Tamil Nadu challenged it on various grounds. The Supreme Court issued notice to Kerala to respond; however, did not stay the operation of the Act even as an interim measure. The Court then advised the States to settle the matter amicably, and adjourned hearing in order to enable them to do so. The Supreme Court[17] of India termed it as not unconstitutional. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court constituted a Constitution bench to hear the case considering its wide ramifications. The case involves pre-constitutional agreement between two entities which does not exist now.
Kerala's Stance: Kerala did not object giving water to Tamil Nadu. Their main cause of objection is the dams safety as it is as old as 110 years. Increasing the level would add more pressure to be handled by already leaking dam. No masonry dam may survive for 999 years so a new dam may replace the existing one in near future.
Tamil Nadu's Stance: The State want that the 2006 order of Supreme court be implemented so as to increase the water level to 142 feet (43 m).
In September 2009, the Ministry of Environment and Forests of Government of India granted[18] environmental clearance to Kerala for conducting survey for new dam downstream. Tamil Nadu approached Supreme court for a stay order against the clearance; however, the plea was rejected. Consequently, the survey was started in October, 2009. The survey team looked at three spots and the final report is expected to be ready by March 2010 for submission to the government.
The arguments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu are continuing in the Constitution bench of Supreme Court. Adv. Harish Salve appeared for Kerala and Adv. Parasaran appeared for Tamil Nadu in Supreme Court.[19] Kerala argued that if Mullaperiyar is an interstate river, the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to intervene in the issue and that it must be dealt with by an independent tribunal. It also argued that if Mullaperiyar is an intrastate river, then the Dam Safety Authority of Kerala is constitutional, and that the Supreme Court has no jurisdiction to intervene in a pre-constitutional agreement. Thus, the water provision is now done under the 1970 review agreement between the States. According to this agreement, only the dam area is leased to Tamil Nadu, and water is not leased. As Kerala does not gain anything from the project inside its territary, it is free to revisit/cancel the 1970 agreement. Kerala also argues that if the water level is increased to 142 feets, wide forest areas that are inhabited by conserved flora and fauna will be inundated. Moreover, as Tamil Nadu controls only the dam, Kerala has no legal restrictions for diverting water to Idukki reservoir through another route, thereby preventing water logging inside Mullaperiyar reservoir. When the Supreme Court sought to know whether a contract could be unilaterally terminated, Mr. Salve said the Legislature had the competence to put an end to the contract, which was not in Kerala’s interest. By legislation, a contract could be varied, altered or annulled.[20]
Tamil Nadu argued that the Supreme Court need to look only in to the issue of non-implementation of Supreme Court Order to increase water level of dam by Kerala. Tamil Nadu also asserted that Mullaperiyar is not an interstate river, and thus, there is no need for forming a tribunal. The Tamil Nadu counsel argued that Kerala has an ulterior motive to make a new dam and keep it under its control. Tamil Nadu fears that the water supply will be restricted if Kerala builds a new dam and controls it.
However, political controversies arose in Tamil Nadu, as Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) party and BJP accused the Tamil Nadu counsel[21] is against the interests of Tamil Nadu and demanded the state government to remove him. Vaiko, General Secretary, MDMK, has called for a road blockade on May 28 to stop transport of foodgrains, vegetables and milk to Kerala to protest its proposal to construct a new dam in place of the Mullaperiyar dam.[22]
Meanwhile, Kerala proposed that a mechanism may be thought about to supply water to Tamil Nadu similar to the one employed for its supply of drinking water to Coimbatore under the Siruvani water supply scheme.[23]
On 18 February 2010, the Supreme Court decided to constitute a five-member empowered committee to study all the issues of Mullaiperiyar Dam and seek a report from it within six months.[24] The Bench in its draft order said Tamil Nadu and Kerala would have the option to nominate a member each, who could be either a retired judge or a technical expert. The five-member committee will be headed by former Chief Justice of India A. S. Anand to go into all issues relating to the dam's safety and the storage level. However, the ruling party of Tamil Nadu, DMK, passed a resolution that it not only oppose the apex court's decision to form the five-member committee, but also said that the state government will not nominate any member to it.[25] Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi said that immediately after the Supreme Court announced its decision to set up a committee, he had written to Congress president asking the Centre to mediate between Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Mullaperiyar issue.[26] However, Leader of Opposition J. Jayalalithaa objected to the TN Government move. She said that this would give advantage to Kerala in the issue.[27] Meanwhile, Kerala Water Resources Minister N. K. Premachandran told the state Assembly that the State should have the right of construction, ownership, operation and maintenance of the new dam, while giving water to Tamil Nadu on the basis of a clear cut agreement.[28] He also informed the media that Former Supreme Court Judge Mr. K. T. Thomas will represent Kerala on the expert panel constituted by Supreme Court.[29] On 8 March 2010, in a fresh twist to the Mullaperiyar Dam row, Tamil Nadu told the Supreme Court that it was not interested in adjudicating the dispute with Kerala before the special “empowered” committee appointed by the apex court for settling the inter-State issue.[30] However, Supreme Court refused to accept Tamil Nadu's request to scrap the decision to form the empowered committee. SC also criticized the Union Government on its reluctance in funding the empowered committee.[31
This dam has a height of 54 meters (177 feet) and a basement of 44.2 meters (145 feet). It is built with a mixture of Lime stone and mortar. When it was built, there was no reinforced concrete or similar techniques. The engineer who built this dam calculated that this dam will stand for 50 years. After building the dam there was an agreement between princely state of Travancore and then Madras presidency. It was purely an unfair dealing. The agreement says of leasing out the land area of reservoir for 999 years.Kerala was giving water to Tamilnadu. It is, and it will. No problem. Problem comes in the other way. The dam is not safe to carry water more than 136 feet of water. Tamilnadu wants it to be raised to 142 feet. Whereas in late 1970s itself central water committee suggested not to raise water level beyond 136 feet as the dam is not in fit condition. Fact is that even in 136 feet water level, Tamilnadu will be able to get water. Another interesting fact is that Tamilnadu pays Andhrapradesh Rs. 3 crores per TMC of water, and Rs. 40,000 for 70 TMC of water! Shall we call it incompetency for Government of Kerala? We should!
See the image below where you can see the week wall of the dam. You should see the cross section of the dam in the image above also to understand the impact of a breach!
Mullaperiyar Dam as it is seen with water level at 115 feet.
Image below,you can see the cracks very clearly. Generally the security system there will not allow anyone to photograph this. Once, Indian navy was called for to photograph the cracks in the dam. But after boarding the boat, Navy got a call from ‘Higher’ authorities to come back! Understand, this “STRONG” wall is protecting the lives of 35 lakhs+ people who live downstream and 5 districts which are in the vicinity of this dam.
Cracks to take lives
Water seeping into the wall through the cracks 
Plaster on the wall of the dam eroded due to constant contact of water.
See the reservoir of Mullaperiyar! Good. Right? What Tamilnadu say is even if the Mullaperiyar dam is breached, Idukki dam will be able to stop water at it. Hey TN, what are your trying to say? Just forget about the thousands of people who are living between Mullaperiyar and Idukki dams? (Then, why can’t we forget people in Tamilnadu?!)
This is the gate of the “Srikovil”! Key is with Tamilnadu. What a pity. Our neighbor has the key to our home! And for sure, it will not be opened to a Keralite.
Here comes the super scenes. The below is inside the tunnel. Reservoir is on the right wall of this tunnel. You can see water oozing from the wall. Mind it. It is not any intended hole or crack. But it is one which developed in time course.
Breach of this dam will be so disastrous that, the high court building in Eranakulam will be under water! So, think.
Dear Tamilnadu, Please don’t try to say that all these photos are taken inside my home!
I wish I get more details and photographs in this regard. Please pass the word…
Plaster on the wall of the dam eroded due to constant contact of water.
See the reservoir of Mullaperiyar! Good. Right? What Tamilnadu say is even if the Mullaperiyar dam is breached, Idukki dam will be able to stop water at it. Hey TN, what are your trying to say? Just forget about the thousands of people who are living between Mullaperiyar and Idukki dams? (Then, why can’t we forget people in Tamilnadu?!)
This is the gate of the “Srikovil”! Key is with Tamilnadu. What a pity. Our neighbor has the key to our home! And for sure, it will not be opened to a Keralite.
Here comes the super scenes. The below is inside the tunnel. Reservoir is on the right wall of this tunnel. You can see water oozing from the wall. Mind it. It is not any intended hole or crack. But it is one which developed in time course.
Breach of this dam will be so disastrous that, the high court building in Eranakulam will be under water! So, think.
Dear Tamilnadu, Please don’t try to say that all these photos are taken inside my home!
I wish I get more details and photographs in this regard. Please pass the word…
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