Thiruvananthapuram: Governor Arif Mohammed Khan's address to the Kerala Assembly has touched a raw nerve in Tamil Nadu. It is the Governor's mention of a new dam in Mullaperiyar that has upset the neighbouring state.
Tamil Nadu water resources minister Durai Murugan said that Tamil Nadu would approach the Supreme Court against Kerala's "arbitrary" move to construct a new dam in Mullaperiyar.
In a statement released to the press after the Kerala Governor's address on Friday, the Tamil Nadu minister said that the Supreme Court had categorically said (in a 2014 order) that the Mullaperiyar dam was secure.
He said the portion in the Kerala Governor's address that spoke of a new dam in Mullaperiyar amounted to contempt of court.
Kerala water resources minister Roshy Augustine said that Kerala had not challenged the Supreme Court through the Governor's address.
"The Governor's address did not have anything to undermine the highest court, just concern for the security of the people," he said, and added: "I hope the misunderstanding will blow away."
In fact, the Governor's address did not offer anything new. It was just a reiteration of Kerala's stated position on the Mullaperiyar dam, which essentially is 'safety for Kerala and water for Tamil Nadu'.
Here is what the Governor's address said: As regards the Mullaperiyar Dam in Idukki District we are taking every effort to ensure the safety of people of Kerala while making sure that the neighbouring State of Tamil Nadu gets the water it needs. We believe that the dam's capacity should not exceed 136 feet of storage. As Kerala is committed to providing water to Tamil Nadu while safeguarding the lives of its people, it has put forth the proposal to build a new dam in the place of the existing dam which is aged around a century and a quarter.
It is not clear how the Supreme Court will respond when Tamil Nadu moves the contempt petition. Last time when Kerala complained about the unannounced release of dam waters by Tamil Nadu in the middle of the night causing flash floods downstream in Idukki, the court had said that it could not be used as a "platform to score political brownie points."
Tamil Nadu wants the storage level to be retained at 142 ft.
The Supreme Court order in 2014 had also said that the maximum water level in the dam could be 142 ft.
However, in the light of the 2018 deluge and the recurring floods thereafter, Kerala has once again approached the apex court saying that the maximum water level should be retained at 136 ft and also raised the need for the dismantling of the existing dam and the construction of a new one.
Kerala's argument is that the dam is in a seismic zone.
The dam is now administered by a Supervisory Committee formed of top Kerala and Tamil Nadu officials and the chief engineer, Dam Safety Organisation.
