Mullaperiyar Dam Opened on a Special Day: 135 years of the Lease Agreement

This morning, at 7.29am, the Mullaperiyar dam was opened. A red alert has been issued for the Idukki reservoir. People living downstream of the Mullaperiyar dam were evacuated as a precaution.

 

Due to high water levels, the Mullaperiyar Dam was reopened this morning, and this day has a special connection to the Mullapaeriyar dam. On the same day 135 years ago (October 29, 1886), the Periyar Lease was signed. It was an agreement between the Maharaja of Travancore and the British government. 

The dam's spillway shutter was opened around 7.30 a.m. on Friday. Soon later, a second shutter opened. When the water level in the dam's catchment region reached 138 feet, the two gates opened.

The 'Periyar lease deed' for the construction of the Mullaperiyar Dam was signed on October 29, 1886. The agreement was signed by Diwan of Travancore V.Rama Iyengar and Secretary of State John Child Hannington for the state of Madras. The agreement calls for the construction of a dam on the Mullaperiyar, a tributary of the Periyar River, in order to transfer water from the Periyar to the east.

The dam is placed at the top portions of the Periyar River, which originates in Tamil Nadu and goes into Kerala. Within the Periyar Tiger Reserve lies the reservoir. The water drained from the reservoir is initially utilized for energy production in Tamil Nadu's lower Periyar, before flowing into the Suruliyar, a stream of the Vaigai river, and then being used to irrigate about 2.08 lakh hectares in Theni and four other districts farther afield.

The rising water can be utilised up to 155 feet (155 ft contour line) from the deepest basin of the Periyar River, according to the agreement. The agreement also describes that the state of Madras has been given complete rights to carry out construction work for the irrigation project that would use this water.

The contract has a term of 999 years. If the Madras government want to renew the contract, it will be required to pay for an additional 999 years of leasing. The annual rent was set at Rs.40,000 per acre.

The water will be used for irrigation in the Madras districts of Madurai and Ramanathapuram. Contract disputes may be handled to a tribunal comprised of individual arbitrators or officials from both sides. The contract was signed in 1886, and construction on the dam began in September 1887. It was finished in February 1896.