Time for Kerala govt to admit Mullaperiyar fear was a hoax

Although it may not be politically expedient for the United Democratic Front (UDF) government in Kerala, it’s high time they told the people of the state that the safety fears over the Mullaperiyar dam was nothing but a hoax. An empowered committee of the Supreme Court in April 2012 had said that the dam was safe, which in turn was accepted by the apex court, but not by the government in Kerala, its political parties as well as the media. Today, when nobody, but Kerala’s nominee to the expert committee, justice KT Thomas says the same, it’s only fair that the state government listened to him carefully. [caption id=“attachment_1519745” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  File photo of Mullaperiyar river. Reuters.[/caption] In an interview to India Today, Justice Thomas, who once was a judge of the Supreme Court, said that the dam was strengthened thrice and it’s stronger than a new one. “It was me who argued for the new dam in the Empowered Committee and got the approval for a new dam in the committee. But our experts have found out that the old dam is far stronger. There has been greater strengthening of the dam done in 1979, 1989 and 1981. But it has not been reported by the media. It was since 1979 when there were fears on the strength of the dam, two points emerged. One was to build a new dam and the other one was to strengthen the dam. Strengthening was the better option, experts suggested. That is how the strengthening happened in three phases. The 2006 Supreme Court verdict was based on these facts,” he said in the interview. As he pointed out, these facts never became public or the subject of political or media discussions. All that the Kerala government, mostly the Kerala Congress, (not to be confused with the Indian National Congress), other parties, leaders with local political gains, and the media did instead was to fuel the fear that the dam was on the verge of a collapse and four districts in the state will be submerged in the dam water. The issue also fuelled animosity between the politicians and people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. Justice Thomas further said that it was another Keralite, KC Thomas, who was the former chairman of the Central Water Commission in 1979, who said that the dam was safer than a newer one after its strengthening. “Why are the media and politicians in Kerala hiding this fact?” he asked. After the lull of nearly a year, the Supreme Court on Wednesday passed its final orders on the issue saying that the dam was safe and that there was no need for a newer dam. The court also said that the water level in the dam could be raised from the present 136 feet to 142 feet. The verdict resulted in instant uproar in the state with the people who have been holding an agitation for a few years burning the effigy of justice KT Thomas and calling him a betrayer. Even a minister said that Thomas acted against the interest of the state. Unfortunately, the voices of protest in the state don’t take into consideration any of the expert committee views or the verdict of the Supreme Court. Interestingly, it’s the same geopolitical belt that is opposing the Kasturi Rangan committee report on the preservation of the Western Ghats.