COIMBATORE: Work to replace a shutter of the Parambikulam dam will begin on Tuesday as water flow stopped on Monday, 20 days after it was damaged. The reservoir is one of the major structures of the Parambikulam Aliyar Project (PAP). The centre shutter collapsed on 21 September which resulted in nearly five TMC of water draining into Chalakudy river through Peringalkuthu dam in Kerala over the last three weeks.
Public Works Department (Water Resources) officials opened the remaining two shutters to ease pressure on them and to hasten repair work. As a result, water level came down from the full reservoir level of 72 feet in September to 45.06 feet on Monday evening. Water gushing out from the dam reduced to 35 cusecs at 5 pm on Monday. On day one of the shutter collapse, as much as 20,000 cusecs flowed out from the dam.
“Since September 21 when the shutter collapsed, the storage fell by 27 feet. Close to 5 TMC flowed into the Chalakudy river and a significant volume was diverted to Tirumurthy dam through Contour canal. Since the water outflow has completely stopped, we will start restoration work on Tuesday. The State government has allocated `7.2 crore to install a new steel shutter, chain link and 35 tonnes of counter weight,” said an official of the PAP
Nearly nine dams, including Parambikulam, in PAP help irrigate over 4 lakh acres of farm lands across Coimbatore and Tirupur districts. Water in these dams are also shared with Kerala. Meanwhile, farmers benefitting from the project staged a protest in front of the in front of the Superintendent Engineer Office of PAP at Pollachi on Monday. urging the government to renovate sluices of all dams under the basin.
Contract staff sparks row
A contract staff of PAP triggered a row by after he allegedly allowed his son to operate the sluice gates at Aliyar dam. The incident happened on Friday night when PAP day was observed. The worker took his family to show them the dam and allegedly made his son open the sluice gates. A co-worker circulated the video on social media.
PAP officials denied the charges. An official told TNIE that contract staff opened the sluice gate and as per their instruction clicked pictures while releasing water.