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RE: MullaPeriyar Dam -Kerala Sonia Govt. Tactics

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RE: Kerala Politics Tactics -MullaPeriyaru Dam -

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-- Edited by Admin on Tuesday 24th of April 2012 02:41:42 PM

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SC panel submits final report on Mullaperiyar dam

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

New Delhi/ Kochi: The empowered committee appointed by the Supreme Court on Mullaperiyar dam dispute submitted its final report in a sealed cover to the court on Wednesday.Contents of the report,prepared after 20 sittings and running into 260 pages,were not let out by any of its five members.The Supreme Court will consider the report when it takes up the matter on May 4.
Justice KT Thomas,who represented Kerala on the panel,told TOI that the report suggested practical and scientific solution to the long-pending dispute.He expressed hope that the report would be welcomed in both the states.He also said the committee had considered safety of the existing dam,the need for a new dam,and the construction of a new tunnel to take water out of the dam.
The committee headed by former Chief Justice of India A S Anand was set up by the apex court in February 2010 to go into all aspects of the 117-year-old dam,over which Tamil Nadu and Kerala have been at loggerheads for long.While Tamil Nadu contends that the dam is safe and its water level has to be raised from 132 feet to 136 feet,Kerala says the structure is weak and it has to be replaced with a new dam.
As tensions rose between the two states in December last year,a two-member technical team of the empowered committee visited the site and is understood to have concluded that recent tremors in the region did not have any impact on the Mullaperiyar and Idukki dams and that they were safe.
Former Kerala water resources minister N K Premachandran,who was instrumental in nominating Justice Thomas to the panel,said,We were not expecting straightforward endorsement of Keralas position by the panel,considering that state had hinted its reservation about the approach of a technical member of the panel.

SAFETY ISSUE: Justice KT Thomas,who represented Kerala on the panel,told TOI that the report suggested practical and scientific solution to the longpending dispute

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Mullaperiyar dam is safe,says Supreme Court panel

Julie Mariappan TNN

Chennai: The empowered committee appointed by the Supreme Court to examine the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam has concluded that it is hydrologically,structurally and seismically safe.
The panel concluded that the full reservoir level lowered in 1979 to 136ft could be restored to 142ft as sought by Tamil Nadu.The key findings vindicate Tamil Nadus stand that the dam is safe and give no credence to Keralas claim that seismic activity had weakened the structure.
As the existing dam is found safe,the proposal to build a new dam needs to be reconsidered by Kerala, the panel said.
The committee led by Justice A S Anand submitted the 250-page report to the apex court on April 25 after studying the investigation reports by countrys premier institutes.
In its report,the panel said a new independent expert committee may be required to look into the need for raising the full reservoir level beyond 142ft as laid down by the Supreme Court.

TROUBLED WATERS

SC-appointed panel has said that the dams water level can be raised to 142ft Panel has suggested that Kerala should reconsider its proposal to build a new dam Justice Thomas,Keralas man in panel,says law against raising water level should be respected

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Panels vindication a boost for TN

Chennai: The committee constituted in April 2010 was assigned to look into the need for raising the full reservoir level beyond 142ft and included former Supreme Court judges A R Lakshmanan (Tamil Nadu) and K T Thomas (Kerala),besides two technical members former chairperson of the Central Water Commission C K Thatte and former central public works department engineer D KMehta.
Affixing his signature to the report,Keralas representative Thomas,however,noted,I am in general agreement with the report and its conclusions but with a reservation which I state in my note (appended to the report ).
Thomass prime objection related to raising the water level in the dam.The mere fact that another state has challenged the validity of the legislation (enacted by Kerala against raising the water level beyond 136ft) is not sufficient for the panel to ignore the statutory injunction, he said.
With Tamil Nadus stand on the structural stability being vindicated by the panel,government sources said the state would soon insist on raising the water level to 142ft.When the dam is found to be safe,where is the question of looking at alternatives We will press for raising the water level to benefit our farmers in five southern districts,who have been suffering for long, said a senior TN government official.
On Keralas fear that the dam may collapse in case of an earthquake,the panel said,The tremors were small in magnitude,short-lived,sporadic in nature and probably of swarm type
But it said though analysis of the technical studies and other material showed that the dam will remain safe,the possibility of it suffering some distress at some point of time in future,despite requisite upkeep,due to reasons beyond anybodys control cannot be ruled out.The panel suggested that the court can then consider two alternatives as a way forward towards an amicable solution.The report said Kerala can construct a new dam at its own expense,after getting clearance from the planning commission and the Union environment ministry.However,it said,the operation of the new dam will can be done only after a fresh agreement is executed between Kerala and Tamil Nadu ensuring Tamil Nadus existing rights as per the lease deed of 1886 and agreement of 1970,and an independent committee.
In future,the existing dam may need repairs.In such a scenario,to allay the fears of people of Kerala,the panel suggested another alternative.It said a new tunnel can be constructed at a height of 50ft to evacuate water from the reservoir from the existing level of 106.5ft.

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Mullaperiyar dam repairs stalled

Chennai: The ongoing repairs at the Mullaperiyar dam site have suffered a setback with the Kerala forest department on Tuesday blocking the entry of a cement-laden truck to the dam site.Tamil Nadu PWD has engaged a contract firm to plug the holes in the century old dam,using grouting technique.
Highly placed sources said that they could not send the second lot of cement bags to close the drilled holes from where core was lifted for testing at the Centre for Soil and Material Research Station,Delhi,as per the recommendations of the Supreme Court appointed empowered panel last year.
The vehicle carrying 500 cement bags was not allowed to pass at the Vellavakadavu check post in the reserve forests of Idukki district in Kerala.Kerala irrigation department officials had objected to the pressure grouting technology to close the drilled holes on Monday itself, sources said.
Through grouting technology,the cement mixture is injected at steady pressure with variable water/cement ratio.While using cement grouting,the contractor could manage to plug the hole in one of the five holes drilled at main dam and works were scheduled to close one hole at baby dam.
According to site officials,the checkpost staff refused to give their objection in writing despite requests from the Tamil Nadu engineers.TNN

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New row Kerala dusts off plan for dam across Siruvani

Coimbatore Worried Project Would Affect Its Water Supply

K A Shaji TNN

Coimbatore: Yet another confrontation between Kerala and Tamil Nadu may be in the offing over the issue of sharing scarce water resources.
The move by Kerala government to revive a three-decade-old project to dam the waters that flow into the Bhavani river from an arm of the Siruvani river downstream the Siruvani reservoir to irrigate the drought-prone region of Attapady in Palakkad district is likely to meet with opposition in Tamil Nadu.Residents of Coimbatore are apprehensive that a dam that would affect water flow into the Bhavani could impact the supply of drinking water to the city.
A high-level meeting attended by Kerala chief minister Oommen Chandy was held in Thiruvananthapuram on Thursday to revive the project.At present,Bhavani water drawn through Pillur I and Pillur II projects augments water supplied from Siruvani dam,the main source of drinking water for Coimbatore.
According to information gathered from the irrigation department of Kerala,the state plans to store at least four tmc ft of water in the proposed dam,the first to be constructed by Kerala in the Bhavani basin,a river which originates in the Attapady hills in Palakkad district.As per the plan,the 450-metre-long masonry gravity dam would irrigate 4,347 hectares (net) and 8,387 hectares (gross) of paddy and sugarcane fields,provide drinking water to Attapady region and generate electricity.
Kerala officials claim that the dam would not affect the flow into the Siruvani dam,which provides drinking water to Coimbatore City.The dam,they argue,is to be constructed on a stream that carries spillover water from the Siruvani dam and tap water from over half a dozen rivulets in the Muthukulam forests.
However,city officials are a worried lot.We are collecting information from Kerala.Any project that would reduce drinking water supply to Coimbatore should not be allowed.We will try our best to ensure water flow to Coimbatore is not affected, said T K Ponnusamy,commissioner of Coimbatore Corporation.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu must resist the dam project.It will neither promote agriculture in Attapady nor ensure drinking water for the local tribal community.Kerala is mooting the project without considering its ecological impact.The dam would deny water to Coimbatore apart from destroying the ecological balance, said S Jayachandran of Tamil Nadu Green Movement.When a similar move was made by Tamil Nadu to divert water from the Chaliyar river,we resisted the move,joining hands with the people of Kerala.Now I hope environmental groups in Kerala would protest this project, he said.

George Jacob · Member

Kerala must give us the water, we may have to give power

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CPM blasts amicus curiaes report on temple

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala CPM on Thursday said that control of the Sree Padmanabhaswamy temple and its wealth should not be restored with Travancore royal house and flayed the proposals submitted in the Supreme Court by amicus curiae in the case.
In drawing up the proposals,amicus curiae has acted like a loyal servant of the royal family.The role of the amicus curiae is to help the court.But here,the suggestions are misleading, CPM state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan said,referring to aset of proposals submitted in the apex court by eminent lawyer Gopal Subramanium two days ago.
If his suggestions were accepted,it would essentially mean that the temple administration and the control of its immense wealth should be entrusted with the royal house,Vijayan told a press meet today.
Vijayan also criticised the UDF government in the state for not formulating its stand in the case and informing the apex court of it.
Such a move not only went against the democratic shift that had happened after the country became independent but also was not in tune with very history of the temple,he said.
The temple was originally controlled by a body called ettara yogakkar and the royal house had very little say in its affairs.It was after the takeover of Travancore by Anizham Tirunal Marthandavarma in the 17th century that the temple was brought under the royal control,he said.PTI