Kerala   

Experts against raising Mullaperiyar water level

Special Correspondent

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The expert committee on Mullaperiyar dam appointed by the State Government has said that raising the water level beyond 136 feet will be dangerous, Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran has said.

Replying to questions in the Assembly on Thursday, Mr. Premachandran said that the expert team headed by Dhrubajyoti Ghosh (senior fellow, sustainable development) Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, H.S.A. Yahya, Professor, Aligarh University, and S.K. Patnaik, former Principal Chief Conservator of Forests, Orissa, said in their “Ecological impact assessment of water level increase at Mullaperiyar Dam, Kerala,” that there were chances of the dam breaking if the water level was raised beyond 136 feet.

The ecological impact of such an eventuality would be catastrophic. The easiest way was to restrict water level within the present limit. An increase would submerge a greater part of the grasslands of the Periyar ecosystem.

This would impair the food chain of the endangered tiger whose prey base was deer which depended on the grasslands.

All engineering works to raise the water level should be put on hold. Any large-scale prolonged movement of men, material and machinery through a patch of land endowed with rich biodiversity was not advisable.

The expert team strongly recommended adherence to the Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. It recommended involvement of the Forest Department in the strengthening process to minimise the damage on the protected ecosystem.The question of giving more water to Tamil Nadu would have to be weighed against the lives and livelihood of the tribal people, since they would be forced to go back into the forest and start exploiting the ecosystem.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Experts against raising Mullaperiyar water level
Responsible tourism to be promoted
Leaf through for tourism details Tourism Trail
Treading a new path
Rising health-care cost affecting the poor: WHO
Army battles on
Hunt for helmets is on
Book fair at Police Club
Engagements: Thrissur
Nostalgic moments
Novel protest by lawyers
Footloose in Kochi
ENGAGEMENTS: Kannur
On the move
Government says entrance illegal
Electronic reservation chart display
Panel not for raising water level

Copyright © 2007, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu