Himanshu Thakkar is coordinator of the South Asia Network on dams, Rivers & People, edits a magazine dams, Rivers & People and has been working on waterrelated issues for more than two decades. In a candid chat with Baba Umar, Thakkar explains why Kerala has every right to built a new dam on the Mullaperiyar. Himanshu Thakkar Is there a way to solve the Mullaperiyar issue? Sooner or later, a decision will have to be taken about decommissioning the Mullaperiyar dam. Water is a state subject and all states are free to take up any water project, build dams or decommission them. The dam is in Kerala and if it breaches, it will affect 75,000 people in the downstream area of Idduki. If the Idduki dam is also breached, the number will cross 3.5 million people. It is the constitutional duty of Kerala to ensure the safety of its people by decommissioning the dam. Decommissioning will also mean the end of the lease agreement signed between Madras Presidency and the state of Travancore in 1886. The safety of the people should be the top priority. No one can constitutionally stop the Kerala government from protecting its people. Look at any state; no one is ready to give water to another state even if it is a co-basin state. In this case, Tamil Nadu doesn’t share the basin. The entire catchment is in Kerala. So constitutionally and hydrologically, the water belongs to Kerala. It’s Kerala’s magnanimity that it’s sharing water with Tamil Nadu without questioning the lease agreement of 1886 that Travancore was pressured to sign. Decommissioning and building a new dam would require both states to sign a new agreement. Wouldn’t it harm Tamil Nadu’s interests, which is paying a mere Rs 10 lakh for taxes on the leased 8,000 acres, price of water and surcharge on the electricity? If Tamil Nadu agrees, it will require a new agreement. What needs to be done is decommission the dam, rebuild it at the same place and meanwhile erect an alternative diversion structure that would continue to feed water to villages in Tamil Nadu. Do we have a history of decommissioning of dams? Yes, we have many instances. For example, a dam on the Yamuna in Delhi was decommissioned and rebuilt. In Karnataka, Chhattisgarh and Punjab, dams were decommissioned and reconstructed. What is the role of the Central Water Commission (CWC) and the Water Resource Ministry? Frankly, both are lobbying for big dams. They fear if they start decommissioning the dam, similar demands will follow. Despite case studies done by IIT-Roorkee, IIT-Delhi and other agencies warning of risks posed by the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam, neither CWC nor the ministry are bothered. Are you questioning CWC’s credibility? Its poor track record speaks for itself. In early 90’s, the World Bank started the dam Safety Project under CWC’s supervision in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Tamil Nadu. In its 2000 report, the bank said that the CWC was not pro-active in dam safety measures. Tamil Nadu was criticised for its poor management of the Mullaperiyar dam and was chucked out of the project. Similarly, the 118-year-old Jaswant Sagar dam in Rajasthan, which collapsed in July 2007, was under CWC’s supervision. Unfortunately, CWC members, who are part of the recently SC-nominated team on the current issue, are part of the same lobby that is pushing for big dams. Without a dam safety Act, things can’t be smooth. CWC should be blamed for it as well. Recently, the Parliament Standing Committee blasted CWC for taking 25 years to draft a dam safety Bill. When the Bill was tabled, the Committee ridiculed the Commission for producing a ‘toothless’ Bill that doesn’t mention any penalty for violation of the Act and compensation to victims during disasters. We have 128 dams that are more than 100 years old. Another 476 dams have crossed the 50-year mark. Besides, ages of 202 dams are not known. Tamil Nadu has taken a tough stance. It wants CISF personnel to be deployed at the dam site. Dirty politics is pitting the people of Kerala against their compatriots in Tamil Nadu, who are otherwise very close to each other. This dispute shouldn’t be allowed to impact people-to-people relations. But politics is fuelling animosity on the ground. Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa citing the example of Grand Anicut dam on the Cauvery has said that ‘the 1,900-year-old dam is still safe in Tamil Nadu’ and doubting Mullaperiyar’s saftety is ‘sheer ignorance’. How can Jayalalithaa compare a 1,900-year-old dam with the 116-year-old structure? Unlike the Mullaperiyar dam, the water from Grand Anicut dam ends up in a delta. If the dam is breached, I don’t think anyone will die. If the Mullaperiyar dam—which is made of lime and surkhi—is breached, it will hit almost 3.5 million people. dams posing threat should be decommissioned. Are you against building of big dams? No, I am not. But when you build a big dam, it is like a ticking time bomb. If you don’t maintain or operate it properly, it can cause massive destruction in downstream areas. A dam that doesn’t follow the World Commission on dams guidelines is a big problem. Unfortunately, not a single dam in India follows these guidelines. Baba Umar is a Correspondent with Tehelka. babaumar@tehelka.com