The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Prime Minister's intervention sought in Periyar dam issue

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jan 16, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Prime Minister's intervention sought in Periyar dam issue

By Our Staff Reporter

MADURAI, JAN. 15 . A team of 28 farmers will meet the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, later this month, to impress upon him the need to raise the level of the Mullaiperiyar dam from 136 to 145 feet.

M. Buthisigamani, president, Periyar-Vaigai Farmers' Association, between Peranai and Kallandiri (the double-crop area), said the team would seek the Prime Minister's intervention to solve the 25-year-old dispute between Tamil Nadu and Kerala over raising the dam level.

"We want the Prime Minister to find an early solution to the issue, which affects five districts of Tamil Nadu," said Mr. Buthisigamani.

The Prime Minister should convene a meeting of the two State Governments and the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the two committees and should order that the level be increased to 145 feet as a temporary measure to mitigate the drinking water and irrigation problems in south Tamil Nadu.

The dam helped to irrigate 2.17 lakh acres and served as a drinking water source for a population of 65 lakhs in Theni, Dindigul, Madurai, Ramanathapuram and Sivaganga districts when the level was maintained at 152 feet till 1979.

However, surplus water from the Periyar dam failed to fill up the then newly-constructed Idukki dam for three consecutive years, and politicians in Kerala planned to restrict the level of the Periyar dam to 136 feet.

They claimed that the "weak" condition of the dam posed a threat to the lives and property in three districts of Kerala.

Mr. Buthisigamani said water from the Periyar dam (with a capacity of 15.565 tmc at 152 feet) would flow into the Idukki dam (with a capacity of 72 tmc) through mountainous regions and would not pose any threat to lives.

Unlike Kerala, which was rich in water resources and was draining 2,000 tmcft of rainwater into the sea, Tamil Nadu was dependent on the neighbouring States for water.

Kerala did not agree to increase the Periyar dam level, even after the Tamil Nadu Government strengthened the dam at a cost of Rs. 21 crores, as directed by the CWC. Tamil Nadu was facing an immense loss due to this.

The land under irrigation was reduced to 70,000 acres from 2.17 lakh acres in the last 25 years. Besides, drinking water became scarce in these districts. Since 1979, the State lost 60,000 tonnes of foodgrains, 7,000 tonnes of fodder and 54,000 megawatt of power. Around 1.44 crore farm labourers lost their jobs, and many more migrated to cities.

The team is leaving here for New Delhi on January 22.

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