In what could provide relief to the residents of Coimbatore and Tirupur districts, Kerala on Sunday, agreed to release 40 cusecs (100 MLD) of water daily from Siruvani Dam to Tamil Nadu.
With the water level plummeting steeply due to the failure of monsoon, the dam has reached its ‘dead storage level’ affecting the drinking water supply in the region.
A decision was taken to this effect at the ministerial-level talks between Kerala and Tamil Nadu on the inter-state Parambikulam-Aliyar river water sharing agreement in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday.
A delegation led by Tamil Nadu Public Works Department Minister K V Ramalingam held talks with Kerala Minister for Water Resources P J Joseph for five hours.
Recently, Kerala had asked TN to release water from Parambikulam-Aliyar for the Palakkad region. Kerala Chief Minister Oommen Chandy announced in the Assembly that the State would move the Supreme Court to get its share.
Speaking to Express, Minister Ramalingam said, “As per the agreement, the Kerala government has agreed to supply 40 cusecs of water every day. A total of 100 MLD (million litres per day) of water is required to meet the demand and the agreement would suffice current requirements as the water level has gone below the dead storage level.”
He further said that the situation was serious and the agreement between both the governments would be helpful to meet the water requirement in the two States.
Tamil Nadu has also agreed to release 100 cusecs of water to Kerala as per the agreement to cater to the water needs of Chittur in Palakkad district.
A senior Tamil Nadu PWD official said that Kerala would be releasing water from Siruvani Dam until June 10, while Tamil Nadu has agreed to release water till May 15.
Earlier when asked about the Intelligence Wing of Kerala police’s claim that a Keralite was spotted while spying for TN on inter-state water issues, Minister Ramalingam said that it was baseless and the government had nothing to do with it.