ERODE: Water for irrigation purposes will be released for the old ayacuts of the Lower Bhavani Project (LBP) dam from August 11 and for the new ayacut from August 16, told Education Minister K A Sengottaiyan to newspersons at Gobi. The minister said that proposals had already been sent to the government and the chief minister would issue orders in this regard. Sengottaiyan will be opening the sluices of the Kodiveri Dam to irrigate the old ayacuts through the Tadapalli-Arakkankottai Canals. Thereafter, water would be released from the Kalingarayan Check dam for the old ayacuts irrigated by the Kalingarayan Canal.
Due to heavy rains in the catchments of the LBP dam in The Nilgiris, water level in the dam rose at an alarming rate in the past five days. With Bhavani river receiving surplus water from Pilloor dam and Moyaru river getting rainwater from Gudalur district, the LBP dam witnessed an inflow of 1 lakh cusecs on Saturday morning, raising the water level by 12 feet in a day. Later, the inflow came down gradually.
Moyaru in spate
Moyaru river in Bhavanisagar continued to be in spate on Saturday, marooning the people of Thengumarahada, a village on the banks in The Nilgiris. Sources said a papaya-laden lorry had been stranded near the river bank since Thursday. As surplus from Pykara dam was released fully to Moyaru, a flood alert has been issued to people of Thenguarmahada.
Till a few days ago, the villagers had been using coracles to cross the river. Though now the ferry services are suspended, Collectors of both The Nilgiris and Erode have cautioned the public against crossing the river. Meanwhile, the villagers complained that they had been demanding a bridge to connect Bhavanisagar and Thengumarahada for the past three decades in vain.
As on Saturday at 6 pm
LBP dam water level: 88.72 ft
Storage: 20.76 TMC ft
Inflow: 19,649 cusec
Discharge from Pilloor dam in Bhavani river: 11,689 cusec
Outflow to Bhavani river:
200 cusec
Outflow to LBP Main canal: 5 cusec