Response to Jayalaitha’s appeal

Response to Jayalaitha’s appeal in various South Indian news papers Re: Mullaperiyar; from an Indian Citizen who cares about the valuable lives of all human beings in this world.

Jayalaitha,

[ I do not want to address you ‘ Dear’ , as you were describing in your ‘appeal ‘ that people in Kerala have Psychosis . I am sure that you do not have sufficient education or intellectual capacity to understand the meaning of that word. I can explain the meaning of that word for you. Psychosis is a severely impaired state of mental functioning manifested by delusions [fixed false beliefs]  and hallucinations [ hearing voices and seeing non existing things] . It is also described as the presentation of a very severe mental illness- Schizophrenia. Reading your appeal I seriously suspect that you are suffering from this. You have labelled all the people living in Kerala ‘Schizophrenics ‘and hence I don’t want to use any respectable words to address you]
Your descriptions about masonry gravity dams are being safe and resistant to natural calamities, giving examples of couple of dams standing in America and Britain is “insane” because; you as a chief minister should understand two major masonry gravity dam collapses in your nearby states . If you are not aware of this please ask Madras IIT which is very near to the place you live. They have conducted studies on this and I am attaching couple of incidents of dam failures from their report.

READ IT HERE
First one is a dam as old as Mullaperiyar which collapsed in 1961.
Khadakwasla Dam (Mutha, Maharashtra, India, 1864 – 1961)

The Khadkawasla Dam, near Pune in Maharashtra, India was constructed in 1879 as a masonry gravity dam, founded on hard rock. It had a height of 31.25 m above the river bed, with a 8.37 m depth of foundation. Its crest length was 1.471 m and had a free board of 2.74 m. The dam had a flood capacity of 2,775 m3/s and a reservoir of 2.78 * 103 m3. The failure of the dam occurred because of the breach that developed inPanshet Dam, upstream of the Khadkawasla reservoir. The upstream dam released a tremendous volume of water into the downstream reservoir at a time when the Khadkawasla reservoir was already full, with the gates discharging at near full capacity. This caused overtopping of the dam because inflow was much above the design flood.The entire length of the dam spilling 2.7 m of water. Vibration of the structure was reported, as the incoming flood was battering the dam. Failure occurred within four hours of the visiting flood waters.

Don’t you understand that one severe monsoon in Western Ghats could cause a flood like this ,which could result the collapse of the already weakened Mullaperiyaar dam . If your theory of gravity dams being un-collapsible how do you explain the collapse of 100 year old Khadakwasla Dam

Another example of similar incidence happened in your nearby state is given below.

Kaddam Project Dam, Andhra Pradesh, India

Built in Adilabad, Andhra in 1957 – 58, the dam was a composite structure, earth fill  and/or rock fill and gravity dam. It was 30.78 m high and 3.28 m wide at its crest. The  storage at full was 1.366 * 108 m3. The observed floods were 1.47 * 104 m3/s. The dam was overtopped by 46 cm of water above the crest, in spite of a free board allowance of 2.4 m that was provided, causing a major breach of 137.2 m wide that occurred on the left bank. Two more breaches developed on the right section of the dam. The dam failed in August 1958.

You proudly explained about the work done by your engineers, to strengthen Mullaperiyar dam with modern technology . When your Tamil Nadu engineers applied their modern technology to Kodaganar Dam in Tamil Nadu,the result was as shown below. If your technology did not prevent such a small dam collapsing in your on state in a small earthquake ,how do you make sure that the same technology will save 125 year old huge structure in Mullaperiyar ?

Kodaganar Dam, Tamil Nadu, India

This dam in the India, was constructed in 1977 on a tributary of Cauvery River as an earthen dam with regulators, with five vertical lift shutters each 3.05 m wide. The dam  was 15.75 m high above the deepest foundation, having a 11.45 m of height above the  river bed. The storage at full reservoir level was 12.3 million m3, while the flood capacity was 1275 m3/s. A 2.5 m free board above the maximum water level was provided. The dam failed due to overtopping by flood waters which flowed over the downstream slopes of the embankment and breached the dam along various reaches. There was an earthquake registered during the period of failure although the foundation was strong.The shutters were promptly operated during flood, but the staff could only partially lift the shutters, because of failure of power. Although a stand-by generator set was commissioned soon, this could not help and they resorted to manual operation of shutters,. In spite of all efforts water eventually overtopped the embankment. Water gushed over the rear slopes as a cascade of water was eroding the slopes. Breaches of length 20 m to 200 m were observed. It appeared as if the entire dam was overtopped and breached.

With the examples you have given internationally , you have proven the ignorance you have in this subject. I can help you there too  Theodor Roosevelt dam was not a gravity dam and the work you are mentioning was not a modification, it was a reconstruction of the dam. It was completed in 1996 at a cost of $430 million. The $430 million in costs included three other major construction contracts associated with the dam.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodore_Roosevelt_Dam.

As a result of the reconstruction, the dam has a completely altered appearance from when it was originally listed as a National Historic Landmark.

For the safety of people in Kerala and some parts of Tamil Nadu, why don’t you understand that this is what exactly we are demanding for .
Did you also know that The Upper Glendevon dam mentioned in your ‘appeal’ was made of concrete as a gravity dam and major concerns were existing from the beginning about the leaks and its ability to withstand earthquakes. Completed in 1955, the reservoir is retained by a concrete gravity dam, some 46m (150 feet) high. The dam has suffered from significant water-leakage problems which required restorative action in 1960, 1968 and again in 1975. In early 1990s a major reconstruction work was undertaken spending millions of pounds to make that dam safe enough by reconstruction? Again we are demanding for a similar kind of approach by reconstructing Mullaperiyar dam.

In your appeal , contradicting your earlier statements , you admit that the worst may happen –the Mullaperiyar dam may collapse.You also argue that Idukki dam will hold the water. What about the lives of 500,000 people living in between ?

Did you know that in 1975 Chinese government convinced the people with similar kind of argument that if Shimonten dam fails Banqiavo dam will hold the water and on the day when the first one collapsed both dams failed resulting in 250,000 deaths , loss of 500,000 buildings and permanent damage to 1000,000 people?

May I ask you few questions ?

1. Do you or your engineers have any idea about the actual amount of the water in Mullaperiyar reservoir ?

2. Is the Peak Dam Failure index calculated for this 125 year old dam calculated and if so what is it. That means ,If a heavy monsoon comes the pressure between incoming water and the out flow needed to be balanced and the increasing height of the dam will make it more prone to collapse . If you knew this , will you suggest this knowing that it will result in the death of 50 lakhs malayalees and 5 lachs Tamilians ?
Finally you said there is no valid reason to believe that Mullaperiyar dam is unsafe.

I would like to attract your attention to this
http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/kerala/article2694645.ece?css=print

The report published by the same news papers in which your appeal came says
“ The scanning of upstream side of the Mullaperiyar dam using a remote operated vehicle by the Central Soil and Materials Research Station on directions from the Empowered Committee of the Supreme Court had found serious damage to the masonry structure between 95 to 106 feet from the base of the dam, retired engineer M. Sasidharan who was observer of Kerala during the scanning said in a report to the government.

Apart from innumerable pot holes, crevices and other openings that were visible on the surface of the dam, the masonry cover provided at the upstream side of the dam was seen to have undergone a crushing between 106 feet and 95 feet throughout the entire length of the dam.

“The damage that the dam has undergone in between the above noted elevations is so severe that no amount of rectification can salvage the dam from a disaster. Even a medium nature of earth quake of four to five magnitudes (on the Richter scale) near the dam site can shake the already loosened masonry cover to a collapsible condition.”

The scan results projected deterioration at all 34 sections of the dam from massive erosion of lime surki mortar from the rubble joints; exposing huge voids, deep pot holes, wide open joints, deep crevices and hollowness on the upstream periphery of the dam. “On most of the sections at this area, rubble was seen in a loosened condition, suggesting that the dam has undergone an irreparable damage.” Mr. Sasidharan said that some of the damage was caused by mistakes in the strengthening works carried out by Tamil Nadu following recommendation of the Central Water Commission in 1979.

The dam had undergone a crushing on account of the additional load of nearly 21.75 tons per feet applied on the top of the dam in the form of RCC capping as part of emergency strengthening measure. The pre-stressing done by cable anchoring through the upstream masonry portion might have loosened and damaged the masonry. Mr. Sasidharan told The Hindu that when the original case over raising of water level was argued before the Supreme Court, Kerala had failed to present the argument that the dam was structurally weak.

What it had presented was applicable to many other dams. In court records, the Mullaperiyar dam was stated as a masonry dam whereas it was a composite dam. The inner core (62 per cent) of the dam was constructed with hydraulic lime surki mix and its upstream and downstream sides with rubble masonry.

He said that no present day engineer would dare even in his dream to design and construct a dam using hydraulic lime surki mix, in the manner of Mullperiyar dam, as this hydraulic lime surki mix is a very weak and unsound material, especially to withstand earthquake forces and high water pressure when compared to dams constructed with rubble or concrete materials.

This was the reason why no country in the world venture to construct a dam using hydraulic lime surki mixes, even though the material is available in plenty.’’

3. Are you prepared to bring an independent international dam safety agency [From Britain or America] to study the safety of this dam and reassure the people of Kerala and the border districts of Tamil Nadu ?
Now I request you to seriously re-consider your arguments and save the lives of 50 lakh people in Kerala . We are not against you taking water from Periyar reservoir for our Tamil brothers and sisters to drink , We are not against you producing electricity worth 330 Crores for our Tamil brothers and sisters to have improved quality of lives. We are appealing for our lives . Please try to understand that we did not protest for the last 125 years , and now because of the repeated earthquakes , about 10 lakhs people in Idukki and Kottayam districts do not sleep well , eat well and they see Mullapperyyar dam breaking in front of their eyes in every earthquake occurring near to this dam

If you are not prepared to consider these requests , I have an appeal to our Tamil brothers and sisters .

‘Please understand that your chief minister has a major psychotic illness , dominated by paranoid delusions against people in Kerala, and she is hearing voices of devil speaking to her asking her to kill 50 lakhs of people and she sees herself dancing over dead bodies. She needs treatment , shock treatment from you people to save our lives . Please….. .Please save us