CHENNAI: After heavy rainfall pounded several districts and discharge of water from Mettur Dam was increased to two lakh cusecs due to heavy inflow from Karnataka, Chief Minister MK Stalin on Thursday told officials not to increase the quantum of water discharged from reservoirs without informing people and not to release surplus water at night. He held a review meeting through videoconference with Collectors of 12 districts (located on the banks of Cauvery and Kollidam rivers) and officials of various departments.
The meeting was held on a day when the combined storage level in 90 reservoirs across the State reached 86.74% of their capacity, and 10 reservoirs, including Mettur, Veeranam and Gundar, reached full capacity.
Collectors of Tiruchy, Karur, Salem, Namakkal, Thanjavur, Ariyalur, Mayiladuthurai, Nagapattinam, Erode, Cuddalore, Tiruvarur, and Tiruppur and officials from the departments of revenue and disaster management, home, PWD, agriculture, police, and fire and rescue services took part in the meeting, a press release said.
Following IMD forecast, monitoring officers were sent to districts where very heavy rains are expected. Three teams of the State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) have been stationed at Kanniyakumari, Coimbatore, and The Nilgiris districts, in addition to the two teams of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) stationed in The Nilgiris. Stalin ordered the stationing of two NDRF and one SDRF team in Tiruchy district and two SDRF teams each in Erode and Namakkal districts. Following the discharge of surplus water to the Cauvery, alerts were sent to around 21.87 lakh mobile phones through the Common Alert Protocol.
Stock essentials at relief camps, officials told
Stalin also urged officials to conduct field visits to ascertain crop damage, and asked ministers to immediately go to districts and supervise relief work. Collectors were told to be prepared with all necessary equipment to face any emergency and ready rescue teams and relief centres. Food, water, and medicine should be adequately stocked at relief centres, the CM said.
Fisherfolk should be alerted about weather forecasts, the CM said, and requested people to follow district administrations ’ advisories. District and State control rooms are open round the clock and the public can reach them on toll-free numbers 1070 and 1077 respectively.
People can also register complaints by sending WhatsApp messages to 94458-69848. Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan, Revenue Minister KKSSR Ramachandran, and Chief Secretary V Irai Anbu were among those present in the meeting.
94458-69848
Send messages on WhatsApp to this number to register your complaints
More showers ahead
Heavy rains are expected to continue in Coimbatore, Theni, Dindigul, Erode, Dharmapuri, Salem, Kallakurichi, Perambalur & Namakkal for two more days