Achuthanandan is still the Opposition Leader Sunday, Mar 1 2009

V. S. Achuthanandan

It may not surprise many who know Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan closely that he finally decided to attend the valedictory of the Nava Kerala Yatra. His keeping away from the function against the party line would have been untenable in a party such as the CPI (M). Mr. Achuthanandan knows this well, and he does not have the wherewithal to quit the party. He takes unassailable stands against corruption and other issues and reneges on them to keep his position.

It is to be noted that many of his ideals or agenda, other than those relating to communism and his politics, do not come from deep-routed convictions. Many are ideas and agenda thrust upon him, by his well-wishes and those who were (once) close to him, to project his image. So, it is not surprising that he changes his colours when it becomes a question of survival.

Environmental activism
For example, he was a leader who used to speak against environmentalism and environmentalists before he became the Opposition Leader. His fight against the filling up of paddy fields was just an old communist style agitation of encroaching into others properties and slashing down standing crops over labour issues. However, his aides managed to give it the character of a struggle to conserve the environment. Soon, he turned into crusader for environmental causes. It was easy for those who were close to him to “convince him” to take up such fights for he was very amenable to persuasion. But his “convictions” vanish in adversity. Thus, his fight against the land mafia and those destroyed the environment at Munnar turned into a project for giving away forest lands. He had no hesitation in dropping those who aided him.

Water issues
He had become a crusader to protect Kerala’s interests in water agreement with Tamil Nadu under the influence of a journalist. However, one of his first actions after becoming the Chief Minister was to make moves to give away waters of Neyyar in a platter to Tamil Nadu. (He was apparently under pressure from the Central and Tamil Nadu leadership of his party. Besides, the LDF wanted PDP leader Abdul Nasir Maudhani to be released from jail in Tamil Nadu.)

He did pretty little to carry forward his campaign against illegal lotteries, encroachment at Kovalam and the like though he had been given the image of a crusader by his supporters. A Central government agency gave a certification to the hospital against whom he had campaigned over a kidney racket. He did not wink an eye when that happened. Kerala’s stand continued to be same as that stated by UDF Government on endosulfan– there is no conclusive proof that endosulfan caused the tragedy in Kasargod district.

Pro-women
His pro-women campaign ended with posting a few women officer at top posts, with no impact on any sphere. He looks on as the government turns away from use of open source software. (He knew nothing on the subject and he adopted the cause just because it had the trappings of a fight against neocolonialism.) In fact, he has compromised on all the major issues he had taken up as Opposition Leader.

Tailpiece: Achuthandan has once again given a tit for tat to Pinarayi Vijayan– this time in response to Pinarayi’s for his narration of the Urdu story about sea and its waves. Well, the Chief Minister is still being the Opposition Leader. As Chief Minister, he should be acting instead of speaking out.

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Mullapperiyar dam– a powder keg Tuesday, Oct 30 2007

Mullapperiyar dam in Kerala remains a powder keg. It would surprise many that a 112-year-old dam, built with lime surkhi mortar, is still in service. In the United States, for example, decommissioning would be considered when a concrete dam is 50 to 60 years old.

t may also sound inexplicable that Tamil Nadu, which is the beneficiary of the dam, had been able to win a case in the Supreme Court of India against keeping he water level low. The water level had been lowered from full reservoir level of 152 feet from the base of the dam to 136 feet when the dam showed signs of trouble back in 1979. Though repair works had been carried out, the safety of the structure remained in doubt and led to the dispute between Kerala and Tamil Nadu before the Court.

Again, to the surprise of many, the Court observed that even if the dam failed, the waters would be contained in the Idukki reservoir down stream. Apparently, the Court had not been told about the thousands of people living between the Mullapperiyar and Idukki dams and catastrophic character of a dam failure. Kerala had always been fighting its cases against Tamil Nadu disastrously.

The only solace is that the authorities have now set up control rooms to watch the situation as water level has reached 136 feet. (But the control rooms and disaster management set-ups will be little help in the case of a dam failure). Tamil Nadu is also making moves to increase the water level by lowering the spillway shutters, despite the favourable court order. It also has realised that it would not be safe to test the dam. Meanwhile, the risk to the downstream population keeps on increasing.

Relevant links:
Mullaperiyar, Idukki dams facing risk

Mullapperiyar: Issues of dam safety

Is MullaPeriyar Safe?
A dam failure will be an economic disaster for both Kerala and Tamil Nadu

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Politics is the art of the possible or the lion that roared once Friday, Oct 26 2007

Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan was one of the strident voices against Kerala getting a raw deal in its water agreements with Tamil Nadu. That was when he was the Opposition Leader.Politics is the art of the possible. When he became Chief Minister one of his first moves was to get the Assembly pass a resolution permitting release of water from the Neyyar project to Tamil Nadu. He was reportedly under pressure from the CPI (M) politburo, which wanted to curry favour with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K. Karunanidhi.

Now, Mr. Achuthanandan is proceeding to ink an agreement with Tamil Nadu that would force Kerala to supply water from Neyyar dam to Tamil Nadu for years to come. There would be no quid pro quo. Kerala is not even raising the demand that the Parambikulam Aliyar inter-State river water agreement, which was due for revision for more than 35 years, should be the first priority. Nor, is there any talk on Mullapperiyar. All the noise made by Mr. Achuthanandan as Opposition Leader is forgotten.

The move also comes at a time Neyyar is becoming an aged dam needing repairs. But Mr. Achuthanandan is not even saying that adequate price would be collected for the water from Tamil Nadu. Won’t Tamil Nadu raise a hue and cry and file a number of cases if the water level is to be brought down on account of the poor condition of the dam?

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