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Constructing a new dam at Mullaperiyar is the prerogative of Kerala, State Law and Finance Minister KM Mani and Water Resources Minister PJ Joseph have said even as a panel appointed by the Supreme Court to look into the dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the 116-year-old dam at Mullaperiyar is to submit its report in just over a month’s time.
Mani said in Kochi on Tuesday that the idea of constructing a new dam at Mullaperiyar was announced in the last State budget and nobody could pose any objection morally to this. He also said that steps would be taken at the earliest to construct a he new dam, adding that his party, the Kerala Congress (M), had not withdrawn from the agitation over the Mullaperiyar issue.
The Minister said that construction of a new dam at Mullaperiyar in Kerala’s Idukki district on the inter-State border was Kerala’s internal matter and the high-power committee of the apex court need not interfere in that matter. There was no need for Tamil Nadu to view it as an emotional issue, he added.
“We will continue to give water to Tamil Nadu even if we construct a new dam. We are ready to give water to them at whatever rate they are getting it now. However, Kerala should take steps to convince Tamil Nadu that there was no need to respond emotionally to the issue,” Mani, chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), said.
Water Resources Minister Joseph said at his home town Thodupuzha on Tuesday that the ownership and control of the new dam to be constructed at Mullaperiyar would be with Kerala. There would be no long-duration agreements on the new dam to be constructed unlike the 1886 pact which was valid for 999 years.
Joseph, working chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), said that the agreement with Tamil Nadu over the new dam would be based on the principle at work in the case of the Siruvani dam in Palakkad district. The Siruvani dam, from where Tamil Nadu is drawing water, is owned and maintained by Kerala.
“There need not be any dispute over the ownership (of the new dam to be constructed) at Mullaperiyar,” said Joseph. Tamil Nadu should not try to cash in on the mistake of Kerala’s former administrators who had failed to invalidate the 1886 agreement after Independence, the Minister said.
Joseph had the other day said that Kerala would use the cost-effective and modern roller-compacted concreting (RCC) technology in the construction of the new dam at Mullaperiyar. Over 370 dams had been constructed in the world so far using RCC technology but this would be the first time the technology was being used in India, he claimed.
Joseph pointed out that construction of the dam could be completed within two years if RCC technology was used, he said, adding that it would cut the cost of construction by 25 per cent to 30 per cent. At the same time, the first phase of the dam-break analysis for Mullaperiyar being carried out by experts from the IIT, Roorkee would be completed before January 15, he said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Tuesday resumed its bus services to Tamil Nadu and Kerala through the inter-State border check-post at Kumily in Idukki district. The bus services on this route had been suspended since December 5 due to the tension prevailing there between Keralites and Tamils over the Mullaperiyar dam dispute.
Mani said in Kochi on Tuesday that the idea of constructing a new dam at Mullaperiyar was announced in the last State budget and nobody could pose any objection morally to this. He also said that steps would be taken at the earliest to construct a he new dam, adding that his party, the Kerala Congress (M), had not withdrawn from the agitation over the Mullaperiyar issue.
The Minister said that construction of a new dam at Mullaperiyar in Kerala’s Idukki district on the inter-State border was Kerala’s internal matter and the high-power committee of the apex court need not interfere in that matter. There was no need for Tamil Nadu to view it as an emotional issue, he added.
“We will continue to give water to Tamil Nadu even if we construct a new dam. We are ready to give water to them at whatever rate they are getting it now. However, Kerala should take steps to convince Tamil Nadu that there was no need to respond emotionally to the issue,” Mani, chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), said.
Water Resources Minister Joseph said at his home town Thodupuzha on Tuesday that the ownership and control of the new dam to be constructed at Mullaperiyar would be with Kerala. There would be no long-duration agreements on the new dam to be constructed unlike the 1886 pact which was valid for 999 years.
Joseph, working chairman of the Kerala Congress (M), said that the agreement with Tamil Nadu over the new dam would be based on the principle at work in the case of the Siruvani dam in Palakkad district. The Siruvani dam, from where Tamil Nadu is drawing water, is owned and maintained by Kerala.
“There need not be any dispute over the ownership (of the new dam to be constructed) at Mullaperiyar,” said Joseph. Tamil Nadu should not try to cash in on the mistake of Kerala’s former administrators who had failed to invalidate the 1886 agreement after Independence, the Minister said.
Joseph had the other day said that Kerala would use the cost-effective and modern roller-compacted concreting (RCC) technology in the construction of the new dam at Mullaperiyar. Over 370 dams had been constructed in the world so far using RCC technology but this would be the first time the technology was being used in India, he claimed.
Joseph pointed out that construction of the dam could be completed within two years if RCC technology was used, he said, adding that it would cut the cost of construction by 25 per cent to 30 per cent. At the same time, the first phase of the dam-break analysis for Mullaperiyar being carried out by experts from the IIT, Roorkee would be completed before January 15, he said.
Meanwhile, the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Tuesday resumed its bus services to Tamil Nadu and Kerala through the inter-State border check-post at Kumily in Idukki district. The bus services on this route had been suspended since December 5 due to the tension prevailing there between Keralites and Tamils over the Mullaperiyar dam dispute.
