Is a new dam, the solution?

                             The politicians of Kerala are misleading the people by reiterating that a new dam is the only solution for the safety of people with regards to the Mullaperiyar issue. It takes 8-10 years for a dam to be constructed and do the political kingpins of Kerala mean that until then the ordinary people living in the vicinity of the 116 year old dam should bear any catastrophe pertaining to the collapsing of the old dam? Why are people like P.J.Joseph not insisting for the decommissioning and removal of the Mullaperiyar dam and instead bellowing for a new dam? Why are we trying to be magnanimous to build a dam for Tamilnadu using the money from the tax payers of Kerala?

 “It is peculiar to observe that while dams are removed in the US in large numbers, they are being constructed in equally large number in India. Though objectives for the dams are the same in both the countries, yet in the US many dams are found uneconomic while in India they are mostly believed to be economic”. This is a quote from the book “Decommissioning dams” which explains the mind set of our ruling class. Can a place like Idukki hold yet another dam? The politicians are not contemplating the ill effects of constructing dams either because they want to help the construction mafia and in turn embezzle money in the pretext of dam construction or they are ignorant.  The other day a seasoned politician like V.S.Achuthanandan said that the LEFT DEMOCRATIC FRONT would construct a new dam. He is ignorant or his advisors are ignorant as the cost of building a dam is not a few thousand Rupees; in the US it costs around 10 million dollars for a small dam and in India it would be double or triple and added to that the corruption involved will make it an enormous amount. If the LDF is going to build a dam then who will remove the 116 year old Mullaperiyar dam? The UDF? These buffoons have made not only themselves ludicrous but also the ordinary people, who echo these stupidities! 

A new dam will only add burden to Idukki’s ecological equilibrium. Kerala has no business to build a dam for Tamilnadu as the lease indenture on Mullaperiyar dam that was built by the British by arm twisting the Maharaja of Travancore in 1886 got expired in 1947 when India became independent. And, the validity of the Communist chief Minister’s and his ally Congress’s decision to renew the lease indenture in 1970 without consulting the concern of the Kerala Assembly is questionable. The politicians have diverted the real issue of decommissioning and removing the old Mullaperiyar dam tactfully and is now voicing for a new dam. This is a ploy of the politician-construction mafia nexus. A 10 year period of the construction of the Dam means both UDF and LDF can have the share of the pie! People of Kerala shouldn’t fall into this trap.

 “Decommissioning and removing the 116 year old Mullaperiyar dam is the only solution the Government can arrive upon in this burning issue. And the Government should also desist from constructing a new dam that will again jeopardize the lives of ordinary people.”