Recurrence of tremors cause concern over Mullaperiyar dam

Wednesday, March 07, 2012: Recurrence of mild tremors in Idukki district in Kerala is causing concern over the safety of the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, located on the borders with Tamil Nadu.
As many as 33 mild tremors and after-vibrations have occurred in parts of Idukki and adjoining Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts since January last year, officials said.
Idukki district experienced a series of mild tremors with a magnitude of 2.1 on the Richter scale in the wee hours on Monday. No casualty or property loss was reported due to the tremor felt. Any such incident is of great concern for Kerala as Mullaperiyar dam, set to be in a vulnerable state is situated in the district.
Mullaperiyar dam was built when this part of Kerala was part of the Travancore princely state and Tamil Nadu under the Madras province under the British rule.
The dam has since then been a major source irrigation for the agricultural belt of central Tamil Nadu districts. For the past two decades however, the dam has been a subject of hot dispute between the neighbouring states.
While Kerala wants to decommission the structure and build a new one, that idea has not found favour with Tamil Nadu. Apart from local resistance groups, political parties on both sides have often taken aggressive postures on the issue.
In 2006, Kerala government passed the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act 2006, which prohibited the raising of water level beyond 136 ft in the Mulla Periyar Dam as it was placed under the Schedule of ‘Endangered Dams’