Kerala SOS to TN, Centre on Mullaperiyar dam

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: An all-party meeting held here on Wednesday proposed that the water level of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam should be urgently reduced to 120 feet to minimise the possibility of dam failure and demanded the urgent intervention of the Centre in quickly settling the dispute with Tamil Nadu.Water Resources Minister P J Joseph and Revenue Minister Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan, who is in charge of disaster management, will fly to New Delhi with the state’s proposals shortly.  ‘‘Currently there is 15 TMC of water in the reservoir. By reducing the level to 120 feet, the volume will go down to 7 TMC. It will reduce the possibility of dam failure,’’ Joseph said after the all-party meeting.  “It has to be done urgently,’’ he said. He termed it as a  “short-term’’ measure, and said Tamil Nadu will still have sufficient water for irrigation.Both ministers urged Tamil Nadu to cooperate with the proposals and said Kerala was ready for talks if TN was willing. Joseph said there had been 20 tremors in the Mullaperiyar region since July 26, the latest being on November 18 with a magnitude of 3.4 on the Richter Scale. A Roorkee IIT report points to the possibility of earthquakes of 6 to 6.5 magnitude, which will lead to a dam burst, Joseph said.A decision with the approval of the two states to construct a new dam was taken in 1979 after the  the Central Water Commission concluded in 1979 that the dam was weak.Later, measures were taken to strengthen the structure, but no work was done on the foundation on which an earthquake impacts. Failure of the Mullaperiyar dam will lead to the destruction of the Cheruthoni and Kulamavu dams in the lower reaches, affecting four districts and about 30 lakh people, he said.Disaster Management If a state government plan works out, the Mullaperiyar region will soon have electronic ‘eyes’ keeping a watch on the seismic activities around the dam.By December, a laboratory will come up under the aegis of the Hazard, Vulnerability and Risk Assessment Cell in the region as part of this,  Thiruvanchoor Radhakrishnan said.The Kerala State Electricity Board will install a network of digital seismographs. `3 crore has been handed over to the power utility, he said. Mock evacuation drills will be staged in schools.The Institute of Land and Disaster Management Management (ILDM) will conduct awareness campaigns among the public.

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