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The Mullaperiyar: Water War The Dam That Divided Two States
Pradeep Damodaran
Rupa,2014
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| Water War |
The Water War is a journalistic account of the political and ethnic clashes that broke out in Kerala and Tamil Nadu over the sharing of the water of the Periyar River. The Mullaperiyar Dam which was built across the Periyar has become a bone of contention between Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The water from the Periyar river which has been diverted by the Mullaperiyar Dam irrigates several thousand acres of agricultural land in the five southern districts of Tamil Nadu including Madurai, and Ramanathapuram. Indeed the prosperity of the five districts rests on the water supplied by the Mullaperiyar Dam. The book under review is an extremely biased and ill informed work which dwell on the political and ethnic side of the conflict overlooking the legal and the historical aspects of the dispute. The Supreme Court of India has declared the 118 year old dam to be safe and Kerala politicians keep raising the fears of the people regarding the safety of the Dam. In fact the Iddukki Dam acts as a safety valve for the Mullaperiyar Dam and in the unlikely event of the Dam bursting or breaching much of the water will be held back by the downstream dam. This vital fact is not brought out even as politicians in Kerala vie with each other to raise public fears about the safety of the Dam, And Pradeep Damodaran a Malayalam speaking Keralite residing in Coimbatore avoids this issue even as he documents the plight of Tamil pilgrims caught in the turmoil and passion unleashed by the Dam. There is absolutely no damage or structural weakness in the masonry work and the Central Irrigation Commission has also certified that the dam is safe.
The Mulaperiyar Dam is a technological marvel and it is the first complete basin transfer project ever attempted in the world. The map given below represents in some detail the Periyar Project. First, was the construction of a dam in close proximity to the valley to store 300,000 acre feet of water, The excess water is led through a series of spillways through a tunnel into the Vaigai River. Interestingly enough there is evidence of medieval waterworks in the area which suggests that the tributary of Periyar called Surulli was being used in the medieval period as well. The total area irrigated by this dam was around 85,000 acres. The project was first suggested by Major Ryves in 1867 wascompleted by John Pennycuick who was resposible for designing the thick masonary dam. The cross section of the wall is given below to show the technical sophistication of the dam. The headworks that distributed the war of the Periyar into the Vaigai Basis was extremely intricate and I have given the plan below.
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| Plan of the Headworks |
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The book under review is extrmrly weak on the historical and social and economic context of the dam. He the author keeps harping on the fact that the lease over the Dam extends to 999 years. He fails to understand that in Anglo Saxon law perpetual lease was couched in that language. |
The Mulaperiyar Dam is a technological marvel and it is the first complete basin transfer project ever attempted in the world. The map given below represents in some detail the Periyar Project. First, was the construction of a dam in close proximity to the valley to store 300,000 acre feet of water, The excess water is led through a series of spillways through a tunnel into the Vaigai River. Interestingly enough there is evidence of medieval waterworks in the area which suggests that the tributary of Periyar called Surulli was being used in the medieval period as well. The total area irrigated by this dam was around 85,000 acres. The project was first suggested by Major Ryves in 1867 wascompleted by John Pennycuick who was resposible for designing the thick masonary dam. The cross section of the wall is given below to show the technical sophistication of the dam. The headworks that distributed the war of the Periyar into the Vaigai Basis was extremely intricate and I have given the plan below.
