It has come to light that the Chief Minister’s office dealing with inter-State river water sharing affairs and the Forest and Water Resource Ministries were aware of granting permission to Tamil Nadu for cutting trees in Mullaperiyar baby dam.
The decision was taken at the video conference held by the Secretaries of the Water Resources and Forest Departments of Kerala and Tamil Nadu on September 17, reports Manorama.
The statement of Forest Minister A K Saseendran that the joint delegation of Tamil Nadu and Kerala had visited the baby dam site in June is a kind of open admission that the State Government was aware of the decision.
But the government is keeping mum about the official meeting held on September 17. It is also intriguing that the Chief Minister has not yet uttered a word on the controversy till now.
As many as three huge trees — Bedda Nut (Terminalia bellirica), Malabar Cinnamon (Cinnamomum malabatrum) and Dhaman (Grewia tiliaefolia) — growing close to the baby dam and 24 other trees within 10 metres of the structure should be axed to strengthen the structure. Once these trees are felled, Tamil Nadu could bring the necessary equipment and raw materials to reinforce the dam. Once the baby dam is reinforced, it could increase the water level at Mullaperiyar to 152 ft.
The Mullaperiyar Dam comprises the 152-foot-high and 1,200-foot-long main dam, a baby dam of 240 ft x 115 ft, and an earth dam 240 ft x 20 ft.
Courtesy: Malayala Manorama
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