CHENNAI: After three decades and a lengthy legal battle between Tamil Nadu and Kerala, the water storage level in Mullaperiyar Dam touched 142 feet Friday.
On hearing the news, farmers in Theni district of Tamil Nadu burst fire crackers and distributed sweets.
People also garlanded the Penny Cuick Memorial statue - the dam architect - and placed flowers in the Periyar river.
Kerala and Tamil Nadu have been at loggerheads over the dam, built under an 1886 accord between the then Maharaja of Travancore and the erstwhile British Raj.
Though the dam is located in Kerala it is owned, maintained and operated by Tamil Nadu.
The Supreme Court May 5, 2014 had decreed in favour of Tamil Nadu and permitted the state to raise the water level in the Mullaperiyar Dam to 142 feet from its earlier storage level of 136 feet.
Even in 2006 the apex court had said that Kerala cannot obstruct Tamil Nadu from increasing the water level in the dam to 142 feet and from carrying out repair works.