Rising water level have reportedly led to opening of fresh leaks in the 118-year-old Mullaperiyar dam causing escalation in the anxieties of the people living in its downstream reaches in Kerala on Tuesday but Tamil Nadu, which controls the dam situated within Kerala, is yet to reveal its plan on how to maintain the water level at the highest limit of 142 feet as permitted by the Supreme Court.
Water level in the age-weakened Surki-concrete dam rose to 141.4 feet on Tuesday with Tamil Nadu, determined to let it touch the 142-feet mark, refusing to increase the volume of water it was drawing. On Tuesday, the water inflow into the dam from catchment areas was 1,038 cubic feet per second but Tamil Nadu was drawing only 147 cusecs.
It has already become clear that Tamil Nadu, which has the right to draw the entire water in Mullaperiyar reservoir as per an agreement signed in 1886, is not intending to increase the water offtake from the reservoir or to open the spillway shutters to regulate the dam water level till it touches the 142-feet mark.
The leaks that had freshly appeared in the dam on Monday following the increase in the reservoir water level reportedly strengthened on Tuesday. leaks from the reservoir had been noticed in all the 22 blocks of the main dam except two. Sources in the Kerala Water Resources Department said that water had been flowing profusely through the leaks in Blocks 10 and 11 of the dam.
leaks have also appeared in the baby dam, built on a higher plane adjacent to the main dam. Mediamen from Kerala who had visited the dam site with Peerumedu MlA ES Bijimol on Monday had noticed leaks in the baby dam. The water leaking through the baby dam had collected at its bottom to form a marshy pool.
Experts in the Water Resources Ministry said that the volume of Surki concrete flowing out of the dam with the leakage water also had increased. They said prolonged Surki leak could weaken the dam. There had been an increase in the volume of seepage water in the gallery of the main dam also. This stood at 144.4 litres per minute on Tuesday.
Ajit Patil, collector of Idukki district where the dam is situated, visited Mullaperiyar on Tuesday and inspected the main dam, baby dam and the gallery. The police at the dam site tried to prevent Kerala mediamen accompanying the collector on the basis of a complaint from the Tamil Nadu authorities who were reportedly sore over their visit to the baby dam with Bijimol on Monday.
“We should be informed about the opening of the spillway shutters some eight hours in advance. At the same time, they (Tamil Nadu authorities) have not told us the details of their plan for lifting the shutters,” said District Collector Patil. “I think even they do not have any idea of how to go about it,” said an expert in the Water Resources Department.
Meanwhile, Theni district in Tamil Nadu on Tuesday reportedly saw intense protests against Bijimol MlA whose visit to the baby dam at Mullaperiyar on Monday had led to the disclosure of leaks in it. Effigies of the Kerala legislator were burned by protestors in Kambam and Theni towns.
The Mullaperiyar dam, commissioned in 1896, is situated inside Kerala territory, on the border with Tamil Nadu in Idukki district. However, Tamil Nadu can draw the water in it for 999 years as per an agreement signed in 1886 between the then Madras Government of the British Raj and the Maharaja of Travancore.
