Reports quoting the Tamil Nadu Public Works Department on Sunday night said that the reservoir water level had risen to 141.6 feet.
Advertisement
Tamil Nadu, however, is not agreeing to a new dam in lieu of Mullaperiyar.
The government today informed the state assembly that Chandy will take up the state’s concerns with Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his scheduled visit to Delhi later this week.
The water level in the dam in Idukki district touched 141.8 feet this afternoon, district administration sources said.
The Mullaperiyar dam, commissioned in 1895, is situated in Idukki district of Kerala but the right for drawing the entire water is with Tamil Nadu as per a 999-year lease agreement signed in 1886 between the then Madras Government under the British Raj and the then Maharaja of Travancore. He said the current water level at the dam was 84.05 m.
Chandy pointed out that there has been heavy rain in the catchment area of the dam during the past few days, and the water level has nearly reached 142 ft. The Tamil Nadu PWD was planning to raise the volume of water being drawn from the reservoir to 1,800 cubic feet per second.
“The 206 families who live in Vallakkadavu and nearby places will be evacuated and moved to safer places”, the minister said.
“Construction of a new Safety Dam is the only solution and the state will take up this matter with the Centre”, he said.
The dam, located in Kerala on the Periyar river, is operated and managed by Tamil Nadu.
Chandy also said that the dispute in other inter-state water issues is either on the quantity of water to be shared by each state or water not released on time.
Lashing out at the government, opposition leader, V S Achutanandan said the state government had failed to effectively take up the issue with the Centre.
“The Kerala government’s callous attitude is allowing Tamil Nadu officials to break the law and do whatever suits them, without taking our officials into confidence”, Bijimol remarked.
Advertisement
Earlier, Kerala had urged Tamil Nadu to lower the water level in the dam and fix it to 140 feet. The state needs to urgently bring the danger posed to the lives and properties of about 35-40 lakh people living in the five downstream districts. Chandy assured that after the administrative and legal options, this also would be looked into by the government.
