Kochi: The remarks made by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in connection with the dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu on the safety of Mullaiperiyar dam marks a qualitative break that may the pave the way for a constructive dialogue between the two states.
The political leadership in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu has been using it as an emotional issue despite several expert panels vouching for the safety of the dam, experts said.
The positive fact about the remark by Pinarayi is that for the first time a leader holding the position of CM has acknowledged the existence of the expert panel’s report on the safety of the dam, a top personality involved in the dispute settlement mechanism said.
Declining to reveal his identity, he said Kerala was unable to convince any of the judges in the Supreme Court on its apprehensions about safety of the dam in all these years. “It is futile to keep on raising a scare over the safety aspect as a 5,000 page expert panel report has endorsed the safety of the dam”, he said.
The opinion of Pinrayi Vijayan that possibility of a new dam can be considered only after consultations with experts is a welcome step, said V.D. Majeendran, the state convener of National Alliance of People’s Movements.
“The construction of a new dam involving destruction of huge quantity of forest land and water bodies in the state needed a thorough discussion of all concerned”, he said. He also called for a study by an international agency on the prospects of decommissioning the existing dam.
The essence of the dispute between the two states is about the quantum of water level that can be stored in the dam, said another person declining to reveal his name. Instead of lamenting over the safety issue, Kerala should develop a set of arguments for keeping the water level in the dam at 136 ft, he added.
The state arguing for keeping the water level at 136 ft can be logically substantiated on the grounds of enough water for Tamil Nadu, protecting bio-diversity of the area and assuaging the fear of the people in the region, he added.
