Survey for new dam gets muddied

KOCHI: Who is right? The Union Environment Ministry or the state government? In what could be a major setback for Kerala’s efforts to construct a new dam at Mullaperiyar, the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) has come out with the claim  that the state hasn’t sought clearance for initiating a survey for a new dam. However, categorically denying this statement, state government officials said clearance for the survey has already been obtained and the one  for the construction is awaited. At a time when the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the new dam is under consideration of the Empowered Panel, the MoEF’s revelation could backfire. Earlier there were reports that the MoEF, during the tenure of Jairam Ramesh as Environment Minister, had given environmental clearance for  a dam survey. Now the MoEF has revealed that it has not even received a request from Kerala in this regard. “The Ministry has not received any request from the State Government of Kerala for initiating a  dam survey for clearance near Mullaperiyar dam in Idukki district, Kerala,” said Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jayanthi Natarajan in an official communication to K N Balagopal MP on Tuesday.“The communication by the Minister was startling, as we were under the impression that already a preliminary clearance was received for the survey when Jairam Ramesh was heading the Ministry. Now we need to crosscheck this information with the state government and find out the actual status of the clearance,”  Balagopal told Express.  Meanwhile, the State Irrigation Department, which prepared the Detailed Project Report, said a preliminary clearance has already been obtained for the survey. The Irrigation officials said that now they are awaiting forest clearance for construction of the new dam. Additional Chief Secretary for Inter-State Waters K Jayakumar said that the MoEF has already given clearance for the survey and soil test. “Only after obtaining clearance  we carried out the survey. As many as 16 boreholes were drilled and soil tests were done for the DPR after getting the clearance. Now we need clearance from the Ministry for the actual dam construction. For that, we need to carry out an EIA, said Jayakumar. James Wilson, who represents Kerala before the Empowered Panel, also confirmed that the survey was carried out after obtaining clearance from the National Wildlife Board under the MoEF.“How can we conduct the survey and drill boreholes for the studies without getting forest clearance? We prepared the DPR only after obtaining the clearance. We had even applied for environmental clearance for construction of the new dam in 2010. Then it was rejected citing the need for carrying out an EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment). Though KFRI (Kerala Forest Research Institute) was entrusted with the task, it was  not able to carry out the study. Now we have invited empanelled agencies which can carry out EIA for the purpose. The information in this regard has already been submitted to the state government,” said Irrigation Chief Engineer P Lathika.