CHENNAI: Periyar Dam is one of the oldest dam structures in India. It was built in October 1895 extending immense benefits to the people of Madurai,” shared Kannan Rajendran, a motivational speaker-cum-civil engineer ahead of his talk about the construction of the Mullaiperiyar dam. The talk has been curated by VarahaMihira Science Forum.
The dam is special for several reasons — it’s over a century old, has no construction/expansion joints, no scouring sluice or surplus arrangements. The idea of harnessing the westward flowing water of the Periyar river and diverting it to the eastward flowing Vaigai river was first explored in 1789 by Pradani Muthirulappa Pillai, a minister of the Ramnad king Muthuramalinga Sethupathy, who gave it up as he found the proposal to be expensive.
“Some initiation started in 1850 but failed because of lack of support from the locals and the coolies demanded high wages. Finally, the whole project was handed over to major Pennycuick in May 1882 and he submitted his report the same year,” he said.
After approval from the British government, the work started in 1888 and got completed in 1895. “During this period, Pennycuick’s team faced several challenges — unexpected and incessant rainfall, unavailability of skilled labour, material conveyance, cutting of tunnel to pass water to eastern side, disruption by wild animals, epidemic diseases and floods. Despite all the shortcomings and difficulties the team completed the construction. We would be discussing about the events leading up to the construction and more,” shared Kannan.
The talk would also explain the methodology followed by the team to control flood, transportation of materials from foothill to Thekkady, and to the dam site and preparation of materials. “Most of it is based on the documentation, ‘The History of Periyar Project’ by AT Mackenzie,” he added.
(The talk will be held on October 27 at 4 pm at Tamil Virtual Academy, Kotturpuram)