SAVE Kerala SAVE Mullaperiyar SAVE 35 Lakh People

What will happen to Kerala and South India if Mullaperiyar Dam breaks? 1) Under water sea cable for internet connectivity connects India to rest of the world , thats only in Cochin. If Cochin Goes Down, South Indian IT Hubs will come to a stand still, being the sole IT Gateway and landing sites two strategic Network submarine cables. All the gateway CISCO routers , switches etc in Kakkanad will float in Arabian Ocean. IP packets from Bangalore, chennai etc will not cross the ocean....... 2) Cochin Refineries - Which refines petroleum products and services most of South India. If it is washed away, TamilNadu, Karnataka and Andhra has to find much more expensive options for Petroleum Refineries.  3) Kerala will be in complete darkness for ages, no TV, no Internet, no Mobile towers, once the Idukki hydro electric power plant is washed away, resulting from Mullaperiyar collapse.  4) Kerala... will be divided into 2 lands, impacting geography of India, and washing away an area of vast bio diversity, along with 30 lakh people. Serving rest of the people with food and other stuffs will be an extremely tedious task.  5) Tamil Nadu will not get water for irrigation or drinking anymore, as stored water in Mullaperiyar dam will flow to the ocean, when the dam collapses.  7) Along its course, the water current will wash Idukki Dam, and many many Industries , Factories, IT Parks, Hospitals, Ports, Cochin City, temples, mosques, churches etc etc to the Arabian Ocean. 8) A disaster 180 times terrific than Hiroshima. This is not exaggeration. Spread this, my friends.  Information is power. Kerala as well as Tamil Nadu are stakeholders in this issue. More than us, its normal Tamil people(excluding power-hungry politicians) who need such info. We need our brothers and sisters across the border to pressurize their own politicians to consider this as a humanitarian crisis, rather than an inter-state dispute. If Mullaperiyar collapses… In the recent past there have been some or the other news about Mullaperiyar in all mainstream media. The water level in the dam is going to cross 136 ft, the strength of the dam has become questionable, the dam is seeping from three more spots, and warnings issued to those living on the banks of the Periyar…..these are some headlines of the terrifying news which comes out everyday. How many among the 35 million population in Kerala is aware of the current position of the dam or the possibilities of the Mullaperiyar spelling the cause for their tragic end. It may be that majority of the people are largely uninformed and unaware about this. It is many years now since Mullaperiyar has been hanging like the sword of Damocles over the people of Kerala. Though at the time of construction, this was the largest dam in the world, today this 113 year old dam made of lime, granite and surkhi mixture is the oldest gravity dam in the world. In 1896 at the time of completion of the dam, the British architect Mr. Benny Cook himself had forecasted the dam to have a life not beyond 50 years. If this was the case, at the time of our independence itself the dam had become outdated. The sole reason for the dam to have survived another 63 years can be attributed to the Englishman’s flawless construction. Had it been constructed by any of our fellow countrymen, we would have in  all probability commemorated the platinum jubilee of the Mullaperiyar tragedy by now. Though Mullaperiyar dam is situated in Kerala, it is owned by the state of Tamil Nadu. If we get into the stories behind this, there is a likelihood that we may break into incessant laughter as though listening to a series of jokes. Many times during the English regime, while the Tamil provinces Theni, Mathura, Dindigal and Ramanathapuram experienced severe drought, on the other side of the Western Ghats, the banks of the Periyar in Kerala often had to endure floods. The Mullaperiyar dam was the Englishman’s answer to this predicament. The project to build a dam to restrain the Periyar waters by building a dam in Mullaperiyar and drilling a tunnel across the Western Ghats to traverse the flow to the Vaigai River in Madurai looms as a nightmare for vast majority of Keralites today. As per the Periyar lease agreement of October 29th 1886, apart from 8000 acres of land 155 ft above the Periyar water level, 100 acres of land was also given on lease to the then Madras government by the Travancore Raja Vishakam Thirunal Ramavarma. As per the contract Kerala would receive a lease amount of Rs. 5 per acre, ie  Rs. 40,000 per annum. The paradox is that the lease was for a period of 999 years for a dam with an expected life span of 50 years. And once the original contract expires there is still another imprudent clause that it may be renewed for another 999 years if need be! It must be around the time when the dam started to show signs of leakage that the realization came about the infirmity of the dam and that water level may not be allowed to exceed beyond 136 ft anymore when the legal battle between Tamil Nadu and Kerala commenced. (I am unaware if there is any other politics behind this). Even if the dam was to collapse, since it posed no threat to Tamil Nadu, their strategy is to keep extracting the water as long as they can. If the dam breaks down, they also provide a lame justification that the Idukki dam which is situated below at a distance of 35km will help contain the water. It is as clear as broad daylight that the Idukki dam itself overflows on its own and that it will not be able to check the overflow from Mullaperiyar. Let’s say, even if the Idukki dam is somehow able to restrain the waters, still is there no value for the thousands of lives on the banks of the river all the way from Mullaperiyar till Idukki? If we start thinking about the condition of the Mullaperiyar dam which has approached its expiration, people of five-six districts cannot step out into the streets or sit at home peacefully. Very recently, one of my blogger friends in Idukki told me that he is planning to learn how to climb coconut trees. It is good to learn how to climb coconut trees. However, apart from it possibly providing self reliance in a time when there is scarcity for coconut pluckers, no one needs to be under any false assumption that they will be able to climb a coconut tree and rescue themselves when the dam collapses. It is estimated that the flood waters will reach till the fourth floor of the High court building in Ernakulam , so is it not a fallacy to believe that one maybe able to escape the wrath of the flood by climbing on top of a tree in Idukki ? If the disaster strikes and the calculations are accurate, statistics point to not less than 4 million victims from the districts of Idukki, Ernakulam, Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Alapuzha and Trissur. The educated and the illiterate, the rich and the poor, politicians, celebrities, experts, those with or without central government influence, the young and the aged alike – the corpses of millions of people shall all float across homes, streets, fields, backyards and everywhere. Many of them will also get buried in the fathomless depths of the Arabian Sea without creating any hassle for others. This figure of 4 million does not include the number of cattle, livestock and all other life forms who will also be victims of this tragedy. If such a huge number of dead bodies trapped inside buildings and vehicles etc are not recovered and buried properly within the next 24 hours, this can lead to an outbreak of epidemics and diseases thus posing a threat to the rest of the surviving mortals and resulting in their miserable deaths. This lot will also include millions of Tamilians who are now raging this war against Mullaperiyar. Due to water shortage as a result of the dams fall, in the areas of Theni, Dindigal, Madurai and Ramanathapuram, scores of Tamil farmers dependent solely on farming shall suffer from draught and famine. Like during the time of Indira Gandhi’s assassination when people unleashed merciless attacks on the Sikh community, if Keralites decide to display their base emotions towards the Tamilians and if the Tamilians decide to retaliate, the country may become witness to still another communal outburst. Even after all this, the Tamilians and Keralites who manage to survive will live continuing to still accuse each other. Without being able to rectify the mistakes made by an erstwhile king till this date and enjoying the tax payer’s money for their vested and private interests, we will repeatedly continue to promote those ministers and their followers, vote them with huge majority in elections and send them to the capital to represent us in the centre. These political creatures shall again and again take turns left and right to plunder the Keralites. On August 11th 1979, torrential rains devastated the Morvi Dam in Gujaratspelling out independent India’s biggest dam disaster. In 20 minutes, it was more than 15,000 mortals who became one with the soil. Two weeks ago when in Tamilnadu the Aliyar dam was opened to drain excess water due to intense heavy rains, the Mulathara regulator in Palaghat collapsed stealing many valuable lives and resulting in over 5 million worth of financial loss. Even though it is after an interlude, I have had the chance to see for myself the aftermath of the August 2006 tragedy when the Bajaj Saghar dam in Rajasthan was opened to drain surplus water due to severe downpour. As it was in the night that the fatal waters broke loose, many villagers succumbed to death in their slumber itself. Hundreds of livestock and helpless beasts became prey to the disaster. Owing to the characteristic natural terrain in this region, it continued to be water lodged for months together in the low lying areas causing continued hardships to the people there. In addition, it brought severe damage to the dam in nearby Gujarat too. I had the opportunity to learn more about this disaster from my maternal uncle, Capt Mohan, an ex-serviceman and pilot who was involved in the helicopter rescue operations in Gujarat at the time. It may be because of all these factors that it is now more than two years that whenever I lend my ears to any news about Mullaperiyar, it is never without a shudder. Have those occupying the seats of power lost all sense of humanity? Did not the king who gave the permission to our neighboring state to exploit water resources from here for 20 times the lifespan of the dam (cannot rule out that the king may have been subjected to British compulsions) and the present ministers who continue to play political games in spite of knowing that if we proceed with this kind of a contract, it spells nothing but doom to the subjects of Kerala, not have even a touch of humanity remaining in them? Is it not but men who are behind the nations’ highest judicial and legal body, namely the Supreme Court who continue to toss and flip the lawsuit between the two states within the courts itself ? Is this a wanted criminal on the run or a case lacking evidence that the judgment is being delayed for so long? It seems the next hearing is in January as both parties need 9 days each to plead their cases! Why is there such an inordinate delay in closing this case? Which other pending case is worthy of the Supreme Court’s attention that this litigation can afford such an excessive delay in settlement? What more is there to verify and establish? Even if it is within a few days, can the Supreme Court not try and understand the deplorable plight of this dam by releasing water from the dam in a planned manner without hindering any lives? Being a common man who doesn’t understand the fine points of our legal system, I can only ponder why the court cannot get involved directly and initiate any action which will avoid a catastrophe for millions of people in this state? If the surrounding areas of the dam experience a tremor reaching 6 points on the Richter scale, everything will end there. As per the instructions of the Central Water Commission it is the responsibility of the Tamil Nadu Government to keep vigil and alert the Kerala Government and its people regarding any damage or changes to the condition of the dam or any threat of disaster. It remains to be seen to appreciate how much interest the Tamil Nadu government who is also the adversary fighting the case against Kerala shall demonstrate in such an event. Discussions are on regarding the final course of action, namely the Emergency Action Plan (EAP). This EAP is nothing but a blue print for rescue operations in case disaster strikes and the dam breaks down. However much it is planned, to what extend would we be able to execute these plans in the event of such a deluge and massive landslide? How many lives and properties would we be able to save when the flood waters swell and overpower – would not the rescue efforts amidst such chaos be anything more than a line etched on this watery grave? Looking at the course of the matter, it looks as though none other than God himself can save Kerala. The situation is such that let God salvage if he can – after all isn’t this God’s own country? Even while I offer prayers that this tragedy may never happen, I cannot but help myself from praying that if this were to happen, let it be only at a time when I am at home with my family. Whatever happens, at least we can face it together. This may be my selfishness but forgive me as I am able to think and pray only like this now. Other than to pray, what is it that we masses can do about it? Should we release the water from the dam and be ready to go to prison? Or should we live in fear of death till the Court rules its judgment? Or is it enough that we express our anguish through writings such as these? Sometimes it feels as though it may be better to become a terrorist than live in fear of uncertainty over our lives and possessions. While the foreign terrorist who killed hundreds of innocent souls continues to enjoy food, shelter, special protection, legal defense and emergency medical treatment at a cost of 310 million rupees, countless nationals who lead a decent civil life obeying the law of the land without committing any offenses continue to struggle for food, water, electricity and for security of life itself. We must comprehend just one thing – if our responsible administrators intend to continue playing games in the name of politics and invite peril, they will be held responsible to answer the biggest ever unprecedented catastrophe in today’s world. The survivors of this calamity in Kerala may not tolerate any one who is responsible for this tragedy to step out and walk devoid of fear. Without any qualms, people will stone them down like mad dogs. Let’s try not to assign a price to the emotions of millions who would have lost their sanity following the loss of their near and dear ones. Footnote: The Tamil actor, Sharath Kumar who portrayed the character of Edacheni Kunkan in the recent Malayalam movie, Pazhassi Raja deserves a huge applause in such times. He has expressed his willingness to be a mediator in the Mullaperiyar case - whether or not it is with any political motives that he has said this, it still offers some solace that at least one Tamilian has shown the sensibility to come forward and say something like this. KOCHI: "Goodbye everybody, Was nice knowing you all. And hey...see you all in hell, I got a reservation there, What about you?"(sic) This is one of the descriptions of the extreme range of comments that's found space in the different cyberspace networks over the Mullaperiyar dam controversy. Social networking sites are bombarded with comments in favour of Mullaperiyar and against the ongoing political war between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. There are about eight top videos -- Malayalam and English -- that are doing the rounds in YouTube and all revolve around the tale of the dam and the risk factor surrounding it. Among the movies that are doing the rounds are Dam 999 (3D) which is due for release and Dams: The Lethal Water Bombs -- which was released last year. Among other videos doing the rounds on the Internet include the Malayalam version of lethal water bombs (Jalambombukal), Mullaperiyar documentaries and the rushes of the various TV news items. Facebook and Twitter are not far behind with FB having a page on 'Rebuild Mullaperiyar Dam' which has links of the several news items and visuals that appeared on the issue. Each is a lesson in itself with the number of people likely to die varying from 22 lakh to 30 lakh. Leading the list of tweets on the issue is MP Shashi Tharoor who has been leaving diplomatic messages like 'Ok, here's the score on #Mullaperiyar. Kerala willing 2give TN all the water, but needs new dam. Quakes have caused cracks, grave danger' (sic). With the following that he has for his tweets, the reactions have been favouring Kerala. Interestingly, but for a few odd messages, the social networks (English) have been fair to Kerala's stand on safety. But there are some really whacky comments like 'they don't want to give us water, but they want us to cultivate the vegetables' (sic). Add to that is a 'newspaper' supposedly published on the morning of the dam disaster. With disturbing headlines like 'Dam Disaster..111 year old Mullaperiyar dam collapses...33 lakh dead.. and the reports flow with details on '5 districts still under water', Tamil Nadu CM pays tribute to victims, Several missing... Film celebrities, including Rima Kallingal, Indrajith, Aashik Abu, are among the many who have been tweeting on the issue. Rima tweeted that 'Swapna sanchaari' will be the first film which carries a one min film on Mullaperiyar issue before its screening (sic). "Many talents from the Malayalam film industry are coming together to make a video on Avials 'Aaranda' for #mullaperiyar" (sic). With comments and tweets at 20 a minute, the netizens claim to have learnt the issue. And they are wondering when the politicians will? ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- English 3D movie DAM999 may face ban in Tamilnadu or all over india due to the resistance offered by DMK. DMK supporters Insisted that film suports kerala morethan tamilnadu in the Mullaperiyar Isue ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Today, Kerala is staring down the barrel of an extinction event- level disaster that could occur any day in the form of a ticking water-time bomb called the Mullaperiyar dam. This disaster, if it happens, will have no parallels in recorded human history and will have horrifying consequences that will haunt and torture people of this country for generations to come. When there are many ways that we as a species are alive only because the Universe is merciful enough not to wipe us all out in an instant , we seem to be making a mockery out of ourselves by trying and forcing he hand of those unexplained cosmic powers! For the uninitiated, this not a simple issue ofwater sharing like the Kaveri dispute , but a deadly disaster staring Malayalees in the face, one that will reduce the most prosperous lands and people of the state toa muddy wasteland riddled with corpses and shattered lives which will make the post 2004 Tsunami Indonesia look like downtown Los Angeles. If the dam fails, death will come to central Kerala in the formof flash floods, landslides, washouts at firstand as diseases, famine, drought and ecological, economic, financial and social disasters that will follow it. 3.5 million Malayalees, entire family trees and everything that all our ancestors have built up over centuries will be wiped off the map in a matter of hours. The Mullaperiyar dam is an ancient masonry gravity dam , constructed of stone and a Calcium Oxide mixture, known as Surkhi or Lime- Mortar or in local speak, Chunnambu! Yes, the dam is not constructed of Cement or Concrete, but a water-soluble Calcium compound! But after many a ¡¡ãstrengthening ¡¡À exercises over decades, the dam today has become a mish-mash of many materials including concrete and cement. It has been holding back 443 million cubic meters of water (weighing 443 billion tonnes) for the past 116 years. It stands upstream over another mega-dam complex which holds 2000 million cubic meters of water. Almost 3.5 million (35 lakh) people live in the shadow of these two dams. And now, with recurring earthquakes shaking the area there are serious cracks appearing in it and it is suspected that the dam is in danger of breaching, and there seems to be nothing that can save all these people, which include yours truly and family too, thanks to petty politics, misplaced emotions and lack of rational thinking and games played by politicians. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HISTORY OF THE DAM AND THE CONFLICT The Mullaperiyar Dam one of those headache inducing legacies the British left for the country. The present day Tamil Nadu was under the British Dominion and called the Madras Presidency. Most of interior Tamil Nadu consisted of hot, arid, scorching waterless plains. These plains stood in the leeward shadow of the mountains of the Western Ghats, which rose suddenly from the arid plains forming the border with the princely state of Travancore. On one side, the mountains received almost year round rainfall and most of the water drained away.On the other side, just in a matter of 30 kilometers the landscape changed from wet,moist, tropical jungle to arid, dry, semi-tundra desert with sparse rainfall. The British found this to unfair and wanted to solve this problem of imbalance by somehow bringing water from Travancore to the plains for drinking, irrigation and cultivation, to end the severe drought that made life impossible in these dry, dusty rainshadow districts. After extensively surveying the jungles of what is now Idukki district, first there was a plan made to divert the Periyar into the Vaigai river and hence to Madurai. Later, that was abandoned and the decision was made to build a dam at the confluence of the Mulla aar and Periyar, that the water so captured could be channeled to a dam on the Vaigai and hence for irrigation across the districts of of Madurai , Theni , Dindigul , Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram  ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- RECENT AND CURRENT STATUS After lying dormant for a couple of years the issue has again come to the forefront in Kerala thanks to successively recurring tremors shaking the region. Areas with largedams are prone to earthquakes due of the enormous weight of the collected water exerts on the Earth. As many as 22 recordedquakes have occurred in Idukki district around the Mullaperiyar project area during the past 8 months, out of which the two on Friday, November 18, measured 2.3 and 3.4 on the Richter Scale and were a mere 32 kilometers away from the dam. More visible cracks and fissures have started appearing on the dam, indicating it has been further weakened. But there is no exact data on the amount of seepage of water that has been escaping the dam as usual TN is downplaying the issue. It has been calculated that the dam will not withstand aquake measuring above 5.5 on the Richter Scale. Adding on to this, there was a tremor measuring 4.5 under the seabed off Lakshwadeep, whose tremors were felt in Trivandrum, 300 km away. All these earthquakes are making people jittery. And all the arguments by TN have been met by with counter arguments from Kerala. The most frightening fact is that as expected the dam seems to be in pretty badshape . Though the TN officials guarding the dam do not allow people to take photos of the dam to prevent exposing the true condition of the dam, some have sneaked inand managed to do so. When the water level falls below 115 feet, the horrifying realcondition of the dam becomes visible with its corroded, cracked and decayed wall showing above the water level ( See pictures here ¡§C Report in Malayalam ). It really is a wonder that the dam has held itself together for so long. It is not just the people of Tamil Nadu, but us of Kerala also who owe their lives to Colonel J. Pennyquick. There is no doubt that the dam is weak and in danger , no matter what the TN Government claims. The funniest fact is that, while the TN government claims the dam to be safe, it does not allow anyone to inspect the dam. It is preposterous that people from the Kerala government are not allowed to inspect territories which come under the boundaries of the Kerala state. (Someone said, Malayalees are generally spineless people. I think it is time to prove them wrong) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ PLEASE LET THIS NOT HAPPEN! The only solution for this crisis and to save the state and it¡¯s people is to build a new, strong and modern dam somewhere downstream on the Periyar. This will ensure that the people of Kerala will remain safe while Tamil Nadu can continue receiving water. There is an advantage here that TN can get even more water than what it is receiving now since the new dam could be filled to the brim. But that is the bone of contention now. Not only is the Government of TN totally against building of a new dam, but they also want to increase the water level to 142 feet! When millions of people are staring down the barrel of a potentially explosive ticking water-time-bomb, it makesno sense that someone should even try to take steps that this will indeed happen instead of trying and preventing the disaster! What are the safer place to escape if the mullaperiyar dam collapse? What to do when Mullaperiyar/Idukki Dam bursts? For people in Cochin and nearby areas, there would be a time gap of 3 hours before the water reaches the city limits. The water reaching with full force towards the city would be around 20-25 feet high. The first 2-3 minutes holds the key to surviving the speeding water. After 5-10 minutes the force of the water flow decreases and w...ithin an hour and a half, the water level subsides. The main route the water will flow is via the Periyar River. People living near the river side can find a safe spot by travelling towards Thrissur. Those living near Aluva, Kalamassery, Edapally can find a safe spot by travelling towards Kattor, Iringalakkuda, Peraambra or Kodakara. But it is better to travel towards Thrissur. People living near Vytilla, Fort Kochi and Ernakulam can find a safe spot by travelling towards Aleppey and people living near Trivandrum can find a safe spot by travelling towards Aleppey or Kuttanadu. Carpooling will be an effective method to save more lives because every life is important. It is best to drive in a single line. With panic rising, there is a huge chance for people to drive haphazardly and traffic to slow down. If you find yourself stuck in traffic with no tall building within vicinity for escape, stay in the car, while keeping the engine running and completely closing all the windows. Reason being that even when you car in underwater, there would be lesser chance for the water to seep into the car when engine running this might help u survive the first first 2-3 mins of heavy force of water. Boarding a train might be a good idea and flight is a big NO because the airport is close to Periyar River. Those who cannot get vehicles should try to get on top of buildings - flats, the Kaloor stadium or the gallery stand should be reasonable safe. Although the stadium is not so tall, its construction is such that the water will take more time to get inside its complex structure. The newly constructed Lulu mall should also be safe with its complex construction. People in remote and coastal areas should try getting on top of hills, get on to boats or swim 1-2 km into the sea with inflated tubes or life jackets. Avoid flats with parking areas on the ground floor. As they stand on pillars (made of hollow bricks) the force of water and debris that it collects on the way can make it collapse. If you are stuck at home, empty syntax tanks or refrigerators and stay inside; these things will float and can absorb shock up to an extent. If you have old tyres, tie it to something strong and tie yourself to the tyre. Stay away from petrol pumps and gas stations....................