Row over movie 'Dam 999', quake & safety of a 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam
NEW DELHI/CHENNAI/KOCHI: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Wednesday night held consultations with water resources minister PK Bansal on the Mullaperiyar dam - an old dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu, which has been reignited by a movie, Dam 999, and fresh cracks on the dam following two minor quakes in the region.
"It is amongst themselves that the matter can be sorted out. We can only play a role of facilitator. We want the matter to be sorted out amicably between the two states," Bansal told reporters in Delhi later. MPs from Kerala decided to take up the matter with the Prime Minister after DMK MPs raked up the issue in the Lok Sabha following a film based on damage wreaked by the collapse of a dam. TN MPs said that the film was based on the story of Mullaperiyar Dam and this would prejudice the state's interests.
Political censorship also forced theatre owners in Tamil Nadu to not screen Dam 999, saying it was against the interests of the state. DMK, PMK and MDMK had demanded a ban on the movie.
Kerala's fears for the safety of the dam was exacerbated recently after mild tremors in the region saw the 116-year-old dam developing fresh cracks. Kerala has been warning that the life of several lakh people in four of its districts were in danger. Tamil Nadu, the sole beneficiary of the water released from the dam situated in Kerala but controlled by Tamil Nadu, had not only rubbished Kerala's fears but has been demanding increase in the height of the dam.
The inter-state dispute, which has been in the Supreme Court for long, however, looks far from being resolved any day soon. Kerala says that the agreement on Mullaperiyar, which gives Tamil Nadu rights over the dam for 999 years, is one-sided, since it was signed by Madras Presidency and the king of Travancore during the British era. Kerala had, however, proposed construction of a new dam but Tamil Nadu has been opposing it, saying it would affect its interest.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi in a statement said that if the film was released in the state, it would affect cordial ties between people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and create a law and order problem. MDMK chief Vaiko said the film - financed by Keralites, starring Indian and Hollywood actors and directed by Sohan Roy - has been named 'Dam 999', referring to the legal rights held by Tamil Nadu over the dam for 999 years.
He warned of protests in theatres if the film was released. MDMK workers were arrested on Tuesday after they staged a protest outside a theatre in the city, where a preview of the movie was arranged, besides damaging the film roll.
Almost timing with the release of the movie, a mild earthquake that rocked the dam area last week had caused new cracks on the dam. Since March, Idukki district has been rocked by 22 mild tremors. The epicentres of the some of the earthquakes were close to Mullaperiyar and Idukki dams, both in Idukki district. Experts fear the possibility of a major earthquake in the district.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/row-over-movie-dam-999-quake-safety-of-a-116-year-old-mullaperiyar-dam/articleshow/10851026.cms
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THE WATER BOMB WAITING TO DEVOUR LAKHS OF PEOPLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMpaIWTFaU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullaperiyar_Dam
Official trailer of DAM 999
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YETSQ-g8L60&feature=youtu.be
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http://expressbuzz.com/topnews/spell-stand-on-dam-kerala-to-national-parties/335955.html
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Tuesday, November 22, 2011, 14:21
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 22: With experts declaring that the town of Idukki in Kerala is earthquake prone, the fears of the cracks in the Mullaperiyar dam has only heightened. The 116-year old dam was mired in controversy after fresh cracks appeared in the dam after the mild tremors on Nov 18.
Twitter was abuzz with the campaign for the reconstruction of the age old Mullaperiyar dam. With social media emerging as the latest toll to create social awareness on the cause, Sunday saw the most action in this front with as many as 20 tweets per minute on the issue.
In an effort to drum up support for the cause that is sure to have deadly consequences, there are blogs and a dedicated Facebook page on the Mullaperiyar dam. Some netizens have compared the Mullaperiyar issue to a 'Water Bomb' that can have disastrous consequences worse than the atom bomb.
A Mullaperiyar activist, Ebin Sam tweeted, "In 1975 Banqiao Dam killed 2 lakh & 11 million were homeless & the Chinese woke up. If Dam bursts, the water is gonna flow at around 100Mph. Nothing can or will stand in its path." [Read: Cracks in Ker-TN on Mullaperiyaar issue; Dam 999 faces wrath]
The latest voice to support the issue is the Malayalam Film industry with short films being made on it and the issue getting featured in popular Malayalam films. A popular Malayalam film director, Ashique Abu tweeted "Mullaperiyar dam won't ask for anyone's permission to collapse".
The Facebook page on Mullaperiyar also has many documentaries intended to sensitize the public on the after-effects of a dam burst.
The other contentious issue of the ownership and the water sharing between Tamil Naduand Kerala is seeing no resolve. Summing up the issue, the popular magazine Frontlinein an article in 2000 had written, "For every argument raised by Tamil Nadu in support of its claims, there is counter-argument in Kerala that appears equally plausible. Yet, each time the controversy gets embroiled in extraneous issues, two things stand out: One is Kerala's refusal to acknowledge the genuine need of the farmers in the otherwise drought-prone regions of Tamil Nadu for the waters of the Mullaperiyar; the other is Tamil Nadu's refusal to see that it cannot rely on or continue to expect more and more from the resources of another State to satisfy its own requirements to the detriment of the other State. A solution perhaps lies in acknowledging the two truths, but neithergovernment can afford the political repercussions of such a confession."
But the fact that remains is that the four districts in Kerala on the water path, in case of a dam burst, will be completely devastated and will see 5 million looking at destruction right on the face. With the Kerala politicians visiting the site and assessing the situation, the gravity of the issue is rising with every passing day. With Tamil Nadu Ministers playing politics over the issue, the only people at the receiving end is the aam janta that will have to bear the brunt of the issue, that could catapult to grave proportions.
OneIndia News
http://news.oneindia.in/2011/11/22/deadly-water-bomb-to-strike-kerala-twitter-on-alert.html
"It is amongst themselves that the matter can be sorted out. We can only play a role of facilitator. We want the matter to be sorted out amicably between the two states," Bansal told reporters in Delhi later. MPs from Kerala decided to take up the matter with the Prime Minister after DMK MPs raked up the issue in the Lok Sabha following a film based on damage wreaked by the collapse of a dam. TN MPs said that the film was based on the story of Mullaperiyar Dam and this would prejudice the state's interests.
Political censorship also forced theatre owners in Tamil Nadu to not screen Dam 999, saying it was against the interests of the state. DMK, PMK and MDMK had demanded a ban on the movie.
Kerala's fears for the safety of the dam was exacerbated recently after mild tremors in the region saw the 116-year-old dam developing fresh cracks. Kerala has been warning that the life of several lakh people in four of its districts were in danger. Tamil Nadu, the sole beneficiary of the water released from the dam situated in Kerala but controlled by Tamil Nadu, had not only rubbished Kerala's fears but has been demanding increase in the height of the dam.
The inter-state dispute, which has been in the Supreme Court for long, however, looks far from being resolved any day soon. Kerala says that the agreement on Mullaperiyar, which gives Tamil Nadu rights over the dam for 999 years, is one-sided, since it was signed by Madras Presidency and the king of Travancore during the British era. Kerala had, however, proposed construction of a new dam but Tamil Nadu has been opposing it, saying it would affect its interest.
DMK chief M Karunanidhi in a statement said that if the film was released in the state, it would affect cordial ties between people of Tamil Nadu and Kerala and create a law and order problem. MDMK chief Vaiko said the film - financed by Keralites, starring Indian and Hollywood actors and directed by Sohan Roy - has been named 'Dam 999', referring to the legal rights held by Tamil Nadu over the dam for 999 years.
He warned of protests in theatres if the film was released. MDMK workers were arrested on Tuesday after they staged a protest outside a theatre in the city, where a preview of the movie was arranged, besides damaging the film roll.
Almost timing with the release of the movie, a mild earthquake that rocked the dam area last week had caused new cracks on the dam. Since March, Idukki district has been rocked by 22 mild tremors. The epicentres of the some of the earthquakes were close to Mullaperiyar and Idukki dams, both in Idukki district. Experts fear the possibility of a major earthquake in the district.
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/row-over-movie-dam-999-quake-safety-of-a-116-year-old-mullaperiyar-dam/articleshow/10851026.cms
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
THE WATER BOMB WAITING TO DEVOUR LAKHS OF PEOPLE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSMpaIWTFaU
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mullaperiyar_Dam
Official trailer of DAM 999
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YETSQ-g8L60&feature=youtu.be
-----------------------------------------------
Spell stand on dam: Kerala to national parties
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Expressing deep concern over the delay in scrapping the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar Dam on Kerala-Tamil Nadu border, Kerala Water Resources Minister P J Joseph today urged national parties to spell out their stand on the issue.
"This is an issue that concerns millions of people living down stream the unsafe dam. There should not be any delay in building a new dam after de-commissioning the existing one," he told reporters at his home town Thodupuzha."The national parties should make their stand clear and the issue should also be debated in parliament", he said.Frequent tremors in Idukki District, where the dam is located, had intensified the fears of the people about the danger posed by it, he said.In view of recurrence of mild tremors in the area, the government would hold tomorrow a meeting of experts to discuss reports on the situation drawn up by the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) and the core technical team on Mullaperiyar, headed by a former chief engineer, Joseph said.According to official reports, as many as 22 mild tremors and after-vibrations occurred in parts of Idukki and adjoining Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts since January this year.The dam was built when the area was part of the Travancore princely state and Tamil Nadu under the British rule.It has since then been a major irrigation source for the agricultural belt of southern Tamil Nadu districts.For the past two decades however, the dam has become a subject of hot dispute between the neighbouring states.Tamil Nadu, holding control of the dam, has been locked in a legal battle over increasing the storage level in the reservoir while Kerala is opposed to it and proposed construction of a new dam citing safety concerns.http://expressbuzz.com/topnews/spell-stand-on-dam-kerala-to-national-parties/335955.html
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Tremors create cracks in Mullaperiyar dam in India's Kerala Idukki district
November 19, 2011 – INDIA – Small cracks appeared at least at three points in the 115-year-old Mullaperiyar dam in Kerala's Idukki district following two minor tremors that occurred early on Friday. The tremors and cracks have created panic among the people in River Periyar's downstream areas. The district has more than a dozen large and medium-sized dams including Asia's largest arch dam, Idukki. Officials of the Kerala Water Resources Department said the cracks had appeared in Block 17 and the joint of Block 17 and 18 following the tremors. The tremors also caused water seepage through the cracks from the Mullaperiyar reservoir, situated on the Kerala-Tamil Nadu border. Officials said the cracks were no serious enough to cause panic. However, a team of experts from the Thiruvananthapuram-based Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) would visit the district and the dam on Saturday for on-the-spot evaluations. The team would be headed by John Mathai, director, Earth Studies, CESS. A minimum of 15 mild tremors have hit the Idukki district, sitting on a fault-line, in the past 15 five months. The first tremor, measuring 2.8 on the Richter scale on Friday had hit the district at 5.26 am and the second – with intensity of 3.4 on the Richter – occurred some 20 minutes later. A 3.8-intensity quake had hit the Idukki region in July last but the strongest tremor occurred in the area in recent past was in December, 2000. It had measured 5.0 on the Richter. Kerala is arguing for the construction of a new dam at Mullaperiyar so that the now-weakened Surki-concrete dam commissioned in 1896 could be decommissioned. The existing dam is seen as a serious threat to the lives of over three million people living in four Kerala districts. People in Vallakadavu near Mullaperiyar said the new cracks were indeed a cause of alarm for them. –The Daily Pioneer
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Deadly Water Bomb to strike Kerala; Twitterati sounds alert
Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 22: With experts declaring that the town of Idukki in Kerala is earthquake prone, the fears of the cracks in the Mullaperiyar dam has only heightened. The 116-year old dam was mired in controversy after fresh cracks appeared in the dam after the mild tremors on Nov 18.
Twitter was abuzz with the campaign for the reconstruction of the age old Mullaperiyar dam. With social media emerging as the latest toll to create social awareness on the cause, Sunday saw the most action in this front with as many as 20 tweets per minute on the issue.
In an effort to drum up support for the cause that is sure to have deadly consequences, there are blogs and a dedicated Facebook page on the Mullaperiyar dam. Some netizens have compared the Mullaperiyar issue to a 'Water Bomb' that can have disastrous consequences worse than the atom bomb.
A Mullaperiyar activist, Ebin Sam tweeted, "In 1975 Banqiao Dam killed 2 lakh & 11 million were homeless & the Chinese woke up. If Dam bursts, the water is gonna flow at around 100Mph. Nothing can or will stand in its path." [Read: Cracks in Ker-TN on Mullaperiyaar issue; Dam 999 faces wrath]
The latest voice to support the issue is the Malayalam Film industry with short films being made on it and the issue getting featured in popular Malayalam films. A popular Malayalam film director, Ashique Abu tweeted "Mullaperiyar dam won't ask for anyone's permission to collapse".
The Facebook page on Mullaperiyar also has many documentaries intended to sensitize the public on the after-effects of a dam burst.
The other contentious issue of the ownership and the water sharing between Tamil Naduand Kerala is seeing no resolve. Summing up the issue, the popular magazine Frontlinein an article in 2000 had written, "For every argument raised by Tamil Nadu in support of its claims, there is counter-argument in Kerala that appears equally plausible. Yet, each time the controversy gets embroiled in extraneous issues, two things stand out: One is Kerala's refusal to acknowledge the genuine need of the farmers in the otherwise drought-prone regions of Tamil Nadu for the waters of the Mullaperiyar; the other is Tamil Nadu's refusal to see that it cannot rely on or continue to expect more and more from the resources of another State to satisfy its own requirements to the detriment of the other State. A solution perhaps lies in acknowledging the two truths, but neithergovernment can afford the political repercussions of such a confession."
But the fact that remains is that the four districts in Kerala on the water path, in case of a dam burst, will be completely devastated and will see 5 million looking at destruction right on the face. With the Kerala politicians visiting the site and assessing the situation, the gravity of the issue is rising with every passing day. With Tamil Nadu Ministers playing politics over the issue, the only people at the receiving end is the aam janta that will have to bear the brunt of the issue, that could catapult to grave proportions.
OneIndia News
http://news.oneindia.in/2011/11/22/deadly-water-bomb-to-strike-kerala-twitter-on-alert.html
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