New dam report to centre - news in Express Buzz
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
IDUKKI: Kerala will submit a detailed project report to the Centre over the proposed construction of a new dam at Mullaperiyar in place of the existing structure within six months. Read the report in The Express Buzz dated 22nd Dec 2009. ............. Here It is .....
1 comments:
I do agree that the dam should be de-commissioned. There is no doubt that the wise thing to do would be to de-commission the dam and protect the population living on the downstream from the ensuing flood waters. However re-building this dam is not something I think is an environmentally sound decision. The dams in Kerala were commissioned a hundred years ago. There were little or no scientific studies conducted on the environmental impact of this constructions.
Several species of fish, amphibians and insects swim upstream for breeding. Hundred of these endemic species may already be extinct. The remaining few have a chance of re-establishing its habitate once the dam is de-commisioned. De-commissioning the dam will also repopulate the depleted fish stock in the down-stream areas of the Periyar river.
Re-construction of the dam will also cause further loss of forest area due to roads, pollution, and human activity in the protected areas of the forest.
There several islands within Periyar lake, which were formed from the peaks of mountains after the original flooding of the valley. Once the dam is de-commisioned the water level will recede and the islands will become the mountain peaks once again. Endangered gaurs, boars, and several species of deer will remain stranded in these hills. These animals should be accounted for and properly re-habilated.
To date no government agency has conducted any flooding simulation in the event of dam breach incident. and we should seriously think of setting up alternative sources of energy. It is time we started thinking of nuclear energy as a viable source of energy.
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