Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Mullaperiyar .Why a new dam ?

The present dam in Mullaperiyar was was constructed during the period 1882-1895,at a cost of about Rs 1 Crore.The dam is 366 Metres long,54 Metres high and is at a height of about 882 metres above sealevel.It's full capacity is nearly 45 million cubic metres of water.
The dam is construted by using lime and Surky ( a combination of sugar and lime.).Such a structure can expect a lifespan of only 50-60 years.i.e .the dam has gone beyond this deadline years back.The dam now is in a seismically active zone and it can not withstand an earthquake above 6.0 in the Richter Scale.
Water from rhe dam is diverted with a tunnel to join the Vaigai river and is used by TN for irrigation of vast areas of land in the 5 districts in the Madurai ,Sivaganga,and Ramanathapuram regions.TN generates electricity also from the diverted water.
As the population around the Periyar region increased by the Keralite encroachers the adverse effects became much pronounced.Earthquakes became frequent and people felt insecure.The Kerala govt asked the CESS to study about this and submit a report.Following the report submitted by the CESS,the TN govt lowered the height of the water level from 142.2 FT to 136 Ft.
The present population in the 5 downstream districts of the dam in Kerala is around 40 lakhs.A quake of high intensity can affect the Idukki reservoir too.
Ultimately if some mishap occurs thre, it will lead to an accute shortage of water in the neighbouring districts of TN for a long time.It will perish the economy of Kerala also due to the floods .
So it is in the interest of both TN and Kerala to prepare for a new dam there.But the Kerala Govt should take care to see that the new dam should add to the resources (income ) of the state .The old terms with TN should be revised in that way.
Sqeezing the people of Kerala with huge hikes in water charges and giving millions of Cubic metres of water to TN at throwaway prices is detrimental to the future economy of our state
UNITED WE STAND,DIVIDED WE FALL.

Thursday, November 10, 2011

THE MACAU ISLANDS




The name has stolen the title of many newsreports recently,following the allegations against Mr V A Arunkumar,son of the former Kerala CM Mr.V S Achuthanandan. He is alleged to have visited the place on several occasions.It is good for the Keralites to know something about ths place.
        Macau,also spelt Macao is one of the 2 Special Administrative Regions(SAR )of the People’s Republic of China,the other region being Hongkong.
     Macau was a Portuguese colony and was the first and last Europian colony in China.The Portuguese settled in the Island nation during the 16th century AD and administered the region till  20th December,1999. On that  day it was handed over to PRC (People’s Republic of China )as per a joint declaration accepting a One Country,Two Systems policy.(Just like HongKong.)
      Macau has an area of just 30 Square Km and had a population of 5.5 lakhs in 2010. 95 % of the population are Chinese,and the rest are Portuguese and other ethnic groups.It is the most thickly populated region in the world ( 18428 /Sq Km )
     The region has the second highest life expectancy in the world.     The Currency is Pataca.1 pataca =0.98 HonKong dollar.The territory’s economy is largely dependent on Gambling and Tourism and to some extent on textile exports.
The special economic status promised will be in force till 20th December 2049 ( valid for 50 years )