CHENNAI: The Central Water Commission has alerted Tamil Nadu government to take precautionary measures as there is a likelihood of nearly one lakh cusecs of water from Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagar dams being released in the next two days due to heavy rain in Karnataka and Kerala.
“In view of heavy rain in Karnataka and Kerala, there is likelihood of heavy release of water from Kabini and Krishna Raja Sagar Dams. The combined discharge (more than one lakh cusecs) is expected to reach Mettur Dam within two days and necessary precaution should be taken and downstream areas should be informed,” CWC said in its Advisory Warning No 1 for River Cauvery.
A top official from Revenue Administration, Disaster Management and Mitigation said they are aware of the advisory from the Centre and necessary steps were being taken.
“While Central Water Commission have asked only six districts – Krishnagiri, Dharmapuri, Tiruchy, Salem, Erode and Thanjavur– to be alerted, we have alerted the entire districts in Cauvery basin,” the official said.
“We have asked the Inter departmental Zonal Teams drawn from police, fire services, rural development and agriculture departments, and headed by an official not below the rank of Tahsildar, to monitor the vulnerable areas, which we have mapped in 2016,” the official said.
“We have also given advisory to people living in low-lying areas not to get into water. We have also diverted water to irrigation tanks in Tiruchy and Pudukottai districts and also to Veeranam tank which supplies water to Chennai which is nearly full, the official said.
A water resources department official said there is no need to press the panic button as it will take two to three days for water to reach the State. “Currently, we are getting 30,000 cusecs. We had successfully managed the release of one lakh cusecs of water by Karnataka recently and we could do it. However, this time most of the water will be let out as the reservoir will be full soon,” he said.