Mullaperiyar Dam: The Sword of Damocles Hanging Over Kerala

Mullaperiyar

Malayala Manorama, the influential Malayalam Daily, joins the debate on Mullaperiyar Dam, which has been raging in Kerala after the Wayanad landslide disaster, with an article by former Kerala irrigation department Chief Engineer V.K.Mahanudevan. In the Op-Ed, he argues that Kerala should pass a Mullaperiyar Disaster Alleviation Law in the state Assembly. He says this law should specify that in the event of a disaster Tamil Nadu government must be made responsible for it and they should pay compensation to the victims of the disaster. Further, it should be made clear that if the Dam breaks no new Dam will be built in its place.

Mahanudevan’s is a well-argued article. However, I don’t agree with his argument that in the event of Mullaperiayar Dam breaks the Idukki Dam in the lower stream may hold the water and the disaster will affect only the people downstream of the Mullaperiyar Dam up to the Idukki Dam! Even the Kerala High Court had made such an observation. What do they mean by that? Don’t the lives of the people living downstream of Mullaperiyar Dam, in constant fear, have no value? One death is too many!

For those who are not familiar with the Mullaperiyar Dam issue. This dam is 129 year old and made with concrete prepared from limestone and “surkhi” (burnt brick powder), and faced with rubble.Tamil Nadu Government and Kerala Government signed an agreement in 1969 giving ownership and usage of water from the Dam to Tamil Nadu for 999 years.

People living downstream of the Dam have been on Satyagraha for many years. After that the Government of Kerala passed the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act 2006 which prohibited the raising of water level beyond 136 ft. in the Mullaperiyar Dam and placed it in the Schedule of ‘Endangered Dams’, Tamil Nadu went to court against the Act. In its May 7, 2014 verdict, the Supreme Court of India ruled on the Mullaperiyar Dam in the following ways: The dam is ‘safe’. The Tamil Nadu government can raise the water level to 142 feet. The Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act, 2006 is unconstitutional.


Every time there is heavy rain and a natural disaster like what happened in Wayanad, people’s fear is reawakened in Kerala and a new debate occur. However, no action is taken by either government.

It is a fact that in the event of a dam breakage millions of people will be affected. We can’t predict how many people will be killed but we can say with certainty that it will be a huge disaster.

Knowledgeable people I have spoken to say that it is a miracle that the dam is still standing!

It is high time that the Kerala and Tamil Nadu governments sat together and untied this Gordian knot.

Binu Mathew is the Editor of Countercurrents.org. He can be reached at [email protected]

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