SAVE KERALA FROM MULLAPPERIYAR DAM DISASTER

Honb'le Prime Minister of India,

Greetings to you. May grace and peace be yours in abundance through knowledge of the Omnipotent. I pray for your good health and happy long life.

I write this petition with great anguish,utmost disappointment and agony. I am  residing with my family consisting of my wife and children along with 4 millions of people and a million of migrated laborers from  all over India beneath a more than century old dam consisting of 15 TMC water spreading over 4668 Acres of land- The Mullaperiyar Dam!

A  case of constant tussle and litigation is ongoing for many years between the Governments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu causing regular tension between the people in a Federal structure of national entity. Politicians of the two provinces are playing over the petty sentiments of the people for gaining electoral advantages.The 152 feet reservoir of the dam is thus a Political matter for the concerned, but the facts are beyond the scope of petty Politics of Provincialism. This is a case of ecological, economical, human disaster. Not only human, the entire flora and fauna is to perish in the part of the World if the dam is to continue without any move to rectify the risks involved.

Due to the disaster waiting in the wings more than a lakh of people between the dam and the Idukki reservoir 40km below the dam, more than 40 lakhs of people in the lower reaches  of Periyar, Azhutha, Meenachilar, Pamba and Manimalayar rivers spreading over 5 districts will be drowned causing not only loss of millions of lives of human and animal population but also precious housing properties and agriculture fields placing a total loss amounting to billions and billions of rupees.

As everybody know, this dam has been constructed on an unusual agreement of 999 years(10 centuries). This contract was made in between the Secretary of State under British and the King, His Highness the Visakham Thirunal Marthandavarma,the then King of Travancore, the vassal state under the British. All agreements made by the British are either nullified or cancelled immediately after Independence. Unfortunately, the slavery of people of Kerala in this regard is continuing even after the Independence.

The dam is more than a century old and sick. No dam in the world is old as this dam. Other dams constructed contemporary to the Mullaperiyar Dam is either demolished or decommissioned. This dam was constructed using Lime Surky concrete which is 6 times inferior than the present M30 concrete used for construction. Already a good portion of lime has been washed away. There is leakage at the surface and gallery of the Dam. A leakage is found in between the 17th and 18th block. The Legislative Sub Committee has examined the dam and found that there is leakage between 10th and 11th block of the dam. The quantity of the seepage water is increasing day by day. A severe damage was found in the masonry structure at 95 to 106 door from the base of the dam. Apart from innumerable patholes, crevices and other openings that are visible on the surface of the Dam, the masonry cover provided at the upstream portion of the Dam has undergone a crushing between 95 to 106 foot through the entire length of the Dam.The damage that the dam has undergone in between the above noted elevation is so severe that no rectification can save the Dam from a disaster.More importantly no technology has developed in the whole world to perfectly strengthen a dam which is old and deteriorating. Therefore the strengthening works done has actually weakened the dam. Considering all these, the report relied by the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India in the Mullaperiyar Dam case is misguiding, unscientific and baseless.

It is most pertinent to note that the Hon'ble Supreme Court of India has appreciated the apprehensions of the people through an order in the writ petition filed by the Adv. Russel Joy in which the Prime Minister of India is the first Respondent.

It is significant to note the dangerous situation going to be faced by the people in 5 districts of Tamil Nadu. If the dam bursts, the fate of these people would be severe that no could imagine. After the collapse, construction of a new dam is not at all possible under the present laws.The laws are changed and it became so progressive than the laws prevailed at the time of construction of the Mullaperiyar Dam. So the situation of the people of Tamil Nadu will be more worse than the situation prior to the construction of the Dam.

Under the aforementioned facts and keeping in mind the well being of the people of Kerala and Tamil Nadu, I humbly appeal appeal to the Hon'ble Prime Minister to urgently interfere in this matter to rectify the evil of the British immediately by an order in consensus with the State of Kerala and the State of Tamil Nadu for the construction of a new dam which will bring back the safety of people of Kerala and water to our neighboring State.