After Mullaperiyar, Kerala on brink of facing another setback in Aliyar dam issue

KOCHI: Ignoring Kerala's objections, the Tamil Nadu government has invited tenders for the construction of a new reservoir on the Aliyar river for Rs 11.721 crore. After Mullaperiyar, Kerala is yet again showing signs of succumbing to pressure from Tamil Nadu in the Parambikulam-Aliyar project, where an inter-state river water dispute exists. With this, Kerala stands to lose the chances of losing precious water it was supposed to get as per the agreement.

The Parambikulam-Aliyar agreement was renewed in 1970 with retroactive effect, along with the Mullaperiyar lease agreement. According to this, Kerala should get 21 TMC of water from the Parambikulam-Aliyar project in three phases every year.

Not only being supplied with an inaccurate amount of water, Kerala is also being duped by the misrepresentation of the amount of water that is released during the rainy season. In addition to this, Tamil Nadu is going ahead with plans to build a reservoir below the Aliyar dam. The aim is to generate more electricity by trapping the tailwater released from the Upper Aliyar after power generation and pumping it back to the power house. Tamil Nadu also ignored the letter sent by the state's Additional Chief Secretary Vishwanath Sinha on the 18th of last month, expressing concern over this. With the implementation of the project, the water from Aliyar to the Chalakudy River and the Chitturpuzha will shrink to be minimal.

The Parambikulam-Aliyar agreement was supposed to be reviewed every 30 years since 1958. Accordingly, the agreement was to be reviewed in 1988 and 2018.

Kerala is now on the verge of yet another setback, akin to what it faced in the Mullaperiyar issue. Since 1956, Kerala has wasted three golden opportunities to renew the Mullaperiyar lease agreement. Finally, under some pressure, the agreement was renewed on May 29, 1970, with conditions that gave complete sovereignty to Tamil Nadu!