TN Agrees to Draw More Water

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM/IDUKKI:The state government on Sunday asked Tamil Nadu to withdraw more water from the Mullaperiyar dam with as heavy rain predicted. Tamil Nadu agreed to the the request, said Chief Secretary Jiji Thomson.

Thomson said he had contacted his Tamil Nadu counterpart around 7 p.m. and requested that adequate water should be withdrawn to keep the levels  in the dam at a safe margin.

The step was taken following reports that the water level in the dam was approaching the 142 ft mark.

“We couldn’t take any chances. There were reports that it could rain heavily in the area,” Thomson said. “Tamil Nadu agreed to take away the required amount of water,” he said.

The water level in the Mullaperiyar dam rose to 141.7 feet on Sunday as the catchment area received 9.4 mm rains.

In the past 24 hours, till 6 am on Sunday, the inflow to the dam was marked at 1,769 cubic feet per second. It got doubled in the next few hours owing to heavy rains.

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