THIRUVANATHAPURAM: The state of Kerala, in its reply to the Empowered Committee filed on Monday, has stated that it will give water to Tamil Nadu only for agriculture purpose, from the new Mullaperiyar Dam to be built in a period of four years.
The reply, however maintains a pregnant silence on the sharing of power, even while detailing Tamil Nadu's annual revenue from generation of electricity from the Mullaperiyar waters. While the royalty paid by Tamil Nadu for power generation is just a little over Rs 6 lakh per year, the income, generated by Tamil Nadu from Mullaperiyar waters is Rs 211 crore, over 3200 times!.
It may be recalled that Tamil Nadu had been paying a paltry royalty of less than a quarter paise (0.14 paise) for one unit of power for decades, without any revision or clause for revision in the 1970 agreement.
In comparison, a KSEB consumer has to pay over Rs 2.50 for one unit of power and KSEB itself pays over Rs 5 Rs 10 for purchasing one unit of power. Tamil Nadu is selling power at Rs 5 per unit.
While any inter-state river sharing programmes depend on the equitable sharing of benefits, the reply clearly indicates that Kerala is the loser even in the case of agricultural income.
Tamil Nadu irrigates 2.3 lakh acres of agricultural land using the Mullaperiyar waters and generates an income of Rs 371 crore. Experts say that Kerala gets just 0.015 percent of the total profit, which is nowhere near equitable sharing.
Kerala's reply to the Empowered Committee said that new dam to be built 1,300 feet away from the existing one will fully protect and guarantee the equitable interests of the State of Tamil Nadu in the waters of Mullaperiyar for their agriculture purpose.
However, it also said: "The benefits arising from the new Mullaperiyar Dam would be shared between the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu as mutually-agreed upon by signing an agreement or decided by this Honourable Court based on what is just and equitable."
This clearly implies that the state of Kerala is not only looking for the safety of its people, but also for a fresh agreement on sharing of benefits from power generation, while it will go along with Tamil Nadu on providing water for agriculture.
The State said that it would construct the new dam with its funds and that appropriate budgetary allocations spread over a period of four years required for the construction of the new dam would be provided.
The reply has also categorically stated that the ownership, operation and maintenance of the new dam will vest absolutely with the State of Kerala.
The regulation of waters from the new dam, it said, would be handled by a joint committee of engineers of both the states of Kerala and Tamil Nadu as is being done in the case of ParambikulamAliyar project and the Siruvani project by both states.
Statistics
In 1895, the Mullaperiyar Dam was constructed at a cost of Rs 42 lakh and the total cost of the project, including irrigation canals in command area, was Rs 84.7 lakh.
Estimated value of the agriculture produce obtained during 190001 was Rs 36.54 lakh and the net revenue received by the British Government was Rs.3.02 lakh. At the same time, the Travancore Government got an yearly rent of Rs 40,000, approximately 7.55 percent of the total value.
Presently, the State Government gets a total of Rs 2.58 lakh as lease and Rs 6.41 lakh as royalty for power generation, making a total of Rs 8.99 lakh.
Tamil Nadu makes Rs 211 crore from power generation and Rs 371 crore from agricultural income totaling a whopping Rs. 582 crore. Kerala's share comes to a mere 0.015 percent.