THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The KSEB has flayed media reports and social media messages accusing it of having kept high storage levels of water in reservoirs and the consequent release which led to the deluge of August 2018.
The KSEB said fake news was doing rounds claiming it removed and manipulated data on water storage on the website of Kerala State Load Despatch Centre.
The storage in reservoirs is fixed on the basis of water inflow and consumption demand, the KSEB said in a statement. In June 2015, the total reserve kept in dams were sufficient to generate 1,165.5 million units. The figure came down to 882.9 in 2016, 501.4 in 2017 and then went up to 984.2 in 2018.
The reserve in 2015 was 23.8 percentage more than that of 2018. The IMD makes its first monsoon forecast for the year in April and the second forecast towards the end of May. The department had predicted normal rainfall in both the forecasts in 2018. There were no warnings of an impending flood. Hence the reserve kept to generate 984 million units in 2018 was normal considering different factors including climate change.These facts should not be manipulated to deceive the public, said KSEB. The board has planned a reserve for generating 650 million units in 2019.