The same matter was raised by Tamil Nadu on a number of occasions in the past and it was brought before the Supreme Court-appointed three-member committee. Kerala was not empowered to take a decision on the matter as it came under the purview of the Union Environment Ministry and the Supreme Court had to be taken into confidence before taking any decision on the matter as the dam is located in the reserved forest.
Kochi: After long suspense over Tamil Nadu’s thanksgiving to Kerala for allowing it to chop down 15 trees near Mullaperiyar dam to strengthen Baby Dam, state Kerala Forest Minister A K Saseendran made it clear that the controversial order has been frozen. The minister himself said that a Forest official came up with the approval for TN to cut off trees without even intimating him or Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s office.
Minister said that he and Kerala government came to know about the official nod to chop down trees after TN Chief Minister M K Stalin sent a letter to Kerala government expressing his gratitude for such an order.
While the opposition has lost no time to attack Mr Vijayan for taking unilateral decisions on the matter, the Government is buying time to dilute the matter. With the news of Kerala giving permission going viral, the LDF government sprung into action to save its face through M K Saseendran who first expressed ignorance of the matter.
The same matter was raised by Tamil Nadu on a number of occasions in the past and it was brought before the Supreme Court-appointed three-member committee. Kerala was not empowered to take a decision on the matter as it came under the purview of the Union Environment Ministry and the Supreme Court had to be taken into confidence before taking any decision on the matter as the dam is located in the reserved forest.
The request made by Tamil Nadu for laying a bituminous road through the reserve forest from Vallakadavu to Mullaperiyar is still on the backburner.
There was no electricity facility in the dam until a few years back and the engineers and support staff had to struggle during nighttime as elephants and other wild animals had a free run there. Now the area is electrified. The Mullaperiyar dam was built by the British with permission from the Travancore kingdom. The Travancore ruler sat on the matter for about 20 years before taking a decision and the permission was signed in 1895. Several attempts were made earlier to build the dam but it did not materialise. Finally, it was accomplished by British Engineer Pennyquick who sold his property back home to fund the expense.
Mullaperiyar dam was reinforced on a number of occasions after doubts over its safety were raised on a number of occasions.
The collapse of the very old dam across Morvi river in Gujarat in the late seventies brought the safety of Mullaperiyar into the limelight.
