Divided by a dam

In Kerala’s Idukki district,a banner fluttering in the wind greets you at the village of Vallakkadavu. “Welcome to the face of death,’’ it reads.

As the first inhabited region along downstream Mullaperiyar,media reports and panic sounded by the state government have led Vallakkadavu to conclude that it would not withstand the fury of the water if the dam were to burst. The only comfort the villagers—mostly small-scale farmers and tea-estate workers of Tamil origin—have is that if the worst happens,at least they would all die together.

“My wife,our nine children and I will all go down together. There won’t be anyone left in my family to mourn our deaths,’’ says K Balu,who originally belongs to Nagapattinam in Tamil Nadu. Balu came to Vallakkadavu to carry out repairs on the dam some three decades ago and decided to settle here. If the dam collapses,Balu says,his house would be one of the first to face the flood.

Villagers fear that water from the dam will submerge Vallakkadavu within 10 minutes of its devastating journey. Since the hillocks have tea plantations,villagers live in the valleys,many of them downstream on the banks of the Mullaperiyar.

M Varghese,a small-scale farmer,built a new house close to the banks a year ago. “No government agency sounded an alarm when I constructed the house here a year ago. I have nowhere else to go. Now,we sleep in turns,with at least one member of the family watching out for that frightening flow of water.’’

Villagers weren’t always this scared. Fear first visited them in 1979 when the collapse of a dam in Gujarat followed by media reports of a leakage in the Mullaperiyar dam,which overflowed that monsoon,brought safety concerns to their doorsteps. After the water level was brought down from 152 ft to 136 ft in 1980 and reinforcement steps were completed later,

Vallakkadavu gradually lost its fear.

“In my childhood,the dam would overflow every monsoon and the water would gush into our houses. We would rush to a hill-top shed and return after the water receded,’’ says local Congress leader P N Sebastian.

In spite of the annual flood,Mullaperiyar was not the symbol of death and destruction as it is today in Vallakkadavu. “The overflowing dam water carried down fish to the stream,bringing cheer to those living on its banks. More houses came up in the area,mainly on the banks of the river. In the 80s,there were only 13 houses downstream,now the number has increased to 163,all sitting target for flash floods,’’ says Sebastian.

After Kerala-appointed expert agencies reported in 2008 and in 2009 that the dam was a ticking water bomb,the fortunes of Vallakkadavu have reversed. Negative publicity over the dam has brought down land prices.

“The region commanded Rs 75,000 a cent (100 cents make an acre) until a year ago. Now,a cent of land here would not fetch even Rs 10,000. Many of us want to leave for safer areas but if we sell our land at throwaway prices,we won’t be able to buy land elsewhere. Our fate is to die here,’’ says E M Shaji,a villager.

Almost resigned to what they see as an imminent tragedy,villages are clinging on to their families. A few of of the villagers who are employed elsewhere now want to return to their families. After the recent panic,students have been skipping school and staying back at home.

Says C Shekharan,headmaster at the government high school in Vallakkadavu,“Parents are reluctant to send their children to school. They want to stay together in this atmosphere of uncertainty. Elders and children require counselling to overcome their fear psychosis.’’

While the alarm has spread quickly in Vallakkadavu,the village is yet to hear about any disaster management measures. “Politicians and the media frequent the village to pledge solidarity with our agitation. However,the government is yet to install an alarm system at Vallakkadavu,let alone a control room. No disaster management drill has been held here as yet. People have not been told what precautionary steps they should take,neither have they been given any information on escape routes,’’ says Vijayamma Thankappan,a member of the Vandiperiyar village panchayat.

“If the worst happens at night,the media will break the news along with that of our deaths. When the water began to overflow through the spillways last week,those living on the banks were not informed. We heard it on TV. The government should have installed a siren to alert the people to help them take precautionary measures,” she says.

Vallakkadavu is closest to the 136-ft reservoir but it does not draw even a mouthful of the Mullaperiyar water. “We do not irrigate our land. For drinking,we depend on the ponds in the nearby forest and estates. Until the panchayat completed some water schemes,we didn’t have enough water,’’ says Vandiperiyar panchayat president G Vijayanand.

Now,the villagers fear that the dam that did not give them any water,will one day wash them away.

Flowing in prosperity

Surulipatti, Theni district,Tamil Nadu,Population: 8,100; Families: 2,900

Forty km away from Vallakkadavu at Surulipatti in Tamil Nadu,farmers are busy sowing paddy. Their lush fields are irrigated by the waters of the Mullaperiyar dam and not surprisingly,the villagers see the dam as their lifeline.

The water drawn by Tamil Nadu is first used for power generation before being released for irrigation in Theni and other four districts of Tamil Nadu. Surulipatti’s residents are mainly farmers and for several decades,the village’s agrarian economy has been linked to the waters of the Mullaperiyar.

The village,which grows paddy,coconut,grape and banana,has heard about the stir in neighouring Kerala for a new dam and a new agreement to replace the existing ones. They have heard and seen the provocative slogans against Tamil Nadu and its chief minister scribbled on vehicles that returned with pilgrims from Sabarimala via Idukki in Kerala.

The agitation has left them nervous. Surulipatti panchayat president P Murugan says his village is totally dependent on water from Mullaperiyar for both irrigation and drinking. “Our village requires 3.60 lakh litres of water a day just for household consumption and we take it from Suruli river which carries the water from Mullaperiyar. We are unhappy to hear that Kerala wants to bring down the water level considerably.’’ Paddy farmer R Sreedharan says,“If Kerala denies us the water,we would die for want of drinking water. Our lives and cultivation are completely linked to the water from Mullaperiyar. If the water level is reduced,our supply will be affected.’’

Sreedharan,who owns four acres,says his paddy produce last year was 350 quintals. “People of Kerala wanted to flush Mullaperiyar water into the sea,but we use it for food production. They should respect farmers like me who toil even at the age of 65,’’ says Sreedharan.

Another farmer,Jay Bhasker,says the dam should be taken over by the Centre to ensure proper supply of water to Tamil Nadu in the future. “Everybody knows that a new dam means a new lease agreement,which will only be bad for Tamil Nadu,’’ he says.

The proposed new dam,he says,will not allow Tamil Nadu to draw the amount of water it does at present.

While the agitation in Kerala has made them anxious,they do not share Kerala’s fears over the dam’s safety. “No one can predict earthquakes and calamities. If the Mullaperiyar water does not reach Tamil Nadu,lakhs would perish in poverty. These paddy fields will turn into graveyards. We survive on farming,’’ says Bhasker.

Many in the village feel the entire Peerumedu taluk,where the Mullaperiyar dam is situated,should have been incorporated into Tamil Nadu at the time of state reorganisation. “Tamil Nadu has taken every step to strengthen the dam. If a new dam is required,Tamil Nadu should take the initiative,’’ says K L Jameendar,a farmer.

The Dam

The west flowing Periyar river originates from the Sivagiri group of hills in the Western Ghats. The dam is located in the upper reaches of the river,just after its confluence with Mullayar tributary. The reservoir that falls within the Periyar Tiger Reserve forms the Thekkady Lake.

The water diverted from the Periyar reservoir is first used for power generation in lower Periyar (Tamil Nadu) before flowing into Suruliar,a tributary of Vaigai river. Tamil Nadu uses Periyar water for irrigating nearly 2.08 lakh hectares in Theni,Dindigul,Madurai,Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram.

The origin

In 1886,the Maharaja of Travancore signed the ‘Periyar Lease Deed’ with the British government,which considered the Periyar waters useless to Travancore. It wanted to divert the water into arid regions of Tamil Nadu. The Maharaja signed the agreement after 20 years of resistance. In 1895,the dam was constructed. In 1932,the Madras government wanted to generate hydel power,a suggestion opposed by Travancore. However,Madras started power generation in 1959. Later,the capacity was increased to 140 MW.

The dispute

In 1961,after floods,reports in the media said the dam was unsafe. Kerala brought up the issue before the Central Water Commission.

In 1964,after a joint inspection by Kerala and Tamil Nadu,the water level was reduced from 155 ft to 152,the first of the lowering of storage level. It was lowered again later.

In the years that followed,Tamil Nadu witnessed public agitations demanding that the water level be increased; Kerala opposed the demand. Thus,began the battle between two states over storage capacity of the dam and its safety. Writ petitions were filed in the high courts of both Kerala and Tamil Nadu. The petitions were transferred to the Supreme Court. In 2000,the Centre appointed an expert committee to look into safety and suggest storage levels.

In 2006,the Supreme Court allowed Tamil Nadu to raise the water level to 142 ft. It said after completing the strengthening work,the level could be restored to 152 feet if an expert committee examined and recommended it. In March 2006,the Kerala assembly amended the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation Act,2003,bringing Mullaperiyar in the schedule of ‘Endangered Dams’ and restricted its storage at 136 ft. Since then,the issue has shifted to the safety of the dam.

In 2007,the Kerala Cabinet permitted preliminary work on a new dam. Tamil Nadu approached the Supreme Court against the move.

In 2010,the Supreme Court. formed an empowered committee to look into dam’s safety.

In 2008,a flood routing study by IIT-Delhi said the dam was unsafe and in 2009,IIT-Roorkee reported the dam was in a quake-prone area and would not survive a major quake.

In November 2011,Kerala sought the Centre’s intervention to bring down water levels to 120 ft after the area witnessed minor tremors this year. Tamil Nadu wants it increased from 136 to 142 ft.