Bearing
in mind the gravity of chaos and dispute between the Mullaperiyar dam, I am
forced to believe that the Divine and Rule Policy of British Kingdom is still
prevailing in India thought they left our country 67 years back. The ripples of
evil regime of British Kingdom are still prevailing in India as well as the
good deeds that they had initiated in our country though it was for the easy
domination over Indians.
British
largely followed the Divide and Rule policy; otherwise it was impossible for
them to conquer and rule India. It should be noted that Lord Macaulay's address to the British Parliament on 2nd
February 1835 about uncolonized India that “I do not think we would ever
conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which
is her spiritual and cultural heritage.”
It
sounds totally absurd that a dam which could survive for a maximum period of
100 years is leased out for 999 years. Who knows whether it was just for 99
years in the original document and later it was manipulated by the people who
are the great beneficiaries of this dam. The Mullaperiyar Dam is a stonework
gravity dam on the Periyar River in the Indian state of Kerala. It is located
881m above mean sea level, on the Cardamom Hills of the Western Ghats in
Thekkady, Idukki District of Kerala, South India
The
irony is that the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam located in Kerala is being operated
by the government of Tamil Nadu which signed a 999-year lease agreement with
the former British government to irrigate farmland on its side. Kerala argues
that the dam is too old and dilapidated and it is water bomb posing immense
danger to millions of people living in the region and that it needs to be decommissioned
and it is a move opposed by Tamil Nadu.
Kerala has
pointed out the unfairness in the 1886 lease agreement and has challenged the
validity of this agreement as India became Independent and turned into Union of
India all the agreement made during the colonized India automatically gets
void. However, safety concerns posed by the 116 year old dam to the safety of
the people of Kerala in the event of a dam collapse even due to a minor earthquake
have been the focus of disputes from 2009 onward. Kerala's proposal for
decommissioning the dam and construction of a new dam has been challenged by
Tamil Nadu. The fear of Tamil Nadu is that once the existing dam is
decommissioned and a new one is built the lease agreement would be
automatically renewed and the state will have to pay revised tariff for water.
Kerala is even ready to build a new dam at its own expense but Tamil Nadu does
not agree to that.
Kerala does
not object giving water to Tamil Nadu. Their main cause of objection is the dam’s
safety as it is as old as 116 years. Increasing the level would add more
pressure to be handled by already leaking dam. Tamil Nadu wants the 2006 order
of Supreme Court be implemented so as to increase the water level to 142 feet
(43 m).
It is not
Kerala’s burden to store the water for Tamil Nadu in Kerala, if the Tamil Nadu
wants water, let them find ways to store it. Kerala has to give water to Tamil
Nadu at its own risk. Mullaperiyar is a water bomb and any time it could be
exploded and the aftermath of which would be lethal. What guarantee Tamil Nadu
has to furnish on the safety of the dilapidated dam and if something goes wrong
will Tamil Nadu would be able to repay the loss? They are playing politics at
the cost of the life of Keralites and let us wish and pray that Supreme Court
verdict shall bring an amicable solution.
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