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Kerala, TN fail to thrash out Mullapperiyar issue

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The bilateral talks between Kerala and Tamil Nadu on Thursday failed to make much headway in resolving the Mullapperiyam dam row, another ticklish issue that the Vajpayee government has to sort out to ensure the support of the All India Anna DMK.

AIADMK supremo Jayalalitha Jayaram, who reserved his decision on the Cauvery issue, had included Mullapperiyar in the agenda she placed before the Bharatiya Janata Party for her party's support.

The discussions followed the Centre's failure to thrash out an amicable solution on the vexed issue at a meeting the water resources ministry called last month at the AIADMK's instance.

The Kerala government has been dealing with the matter cautiously. Political circles are apprehensive that the Centre may take a unilateral decision on the AIADMK's demand for raising the height of the dam from the present 136 feet to 152 feet, in case Jayalalitha continues to mount pressure.

Earlier, the Kerala assembly had passed a unanimous resolution warning the Centre against any such adventure. Kerala believes the Centre has no role in the row as Mullapperiyar is not an inter-state river as Cauvery is.

Mullapperiyar being a river exclusive to Kerala, the state has the power to decide any dispute related to it, say Kerala officials. This could be the reason why the New Delhi meeting insisted on bilateral talks between the states.

Jayalalitha, preoccupied with the Cauvery issue, has been lately silent on this row.

The discussions, held in a cordial atmosphere in the Kerala capital on Thursday, have interestingly boiled down to the question of the safety of the century-old dam, a concern exercising the mind of the Kerala government.

While the Tamil Nadu side, led by Public Works Department Minister Durai Murugan, said that they had no apprehensions about this, Kerala felt that there is need for allaying the fears on this count before starting any negotiations on raising the height of the dam.

Tamil Nadu appreciated the Kerala stand and consented for further technical evaluation on the safety aspect. Both sides agreed to constitute technical teams for evaluating the safety of the dam. The teams would submit their reports to their respective governments before the next round of ministerial-level discussions, scheduled in Madras next month.

The Mullapperiyar issue is also significant in Kerala politics since the ruling Left Democratic Front convenor V S Achutanandan had converted it into a high voltage campaign against the E K Nayanar government. He had accused the government of failing to protect Kerala's interests. Significantly, the LDF state committee that met before the talks warned the Kerala negotiators not to dilute the unanimous resolution of the assembly on keeping the height of the dam at 136 feet.

The state fears that any weakening of the dam could pose serious threat to the Idukki dam downstream, putting at risk the lives of the population of Idukki, Kottayam and Ernakulam districts.

Tamil Nadu has been drawing roughly 40,000 million cubic feet water from the river as per an agreement signed between the Travancore Diwan and the Madras Presidency in 1886. The state has been getting only Rs 12 for every 8,760 units of power generated from its water.

Apart from this, Kerala says Tamil Nadu has violated the agreement several times. Experts are of the opinion that the agreement has lost its sanctity as a result of these violations, and Kerala is now free to annul it.

Expert opinions, meanwhile, are clamouring for steps to strengthen the dam.

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