Rumours go around about decision of trial in Idukki dam

CHERUTHONI, IDUKKI: Confusion prevails in Idukki town and neighboring areas as the following reports and rumours of a likely decision of a trial to run in a couple of days. Even the district administration is awaiting the cabinet decision regarding this with the officials of the dam safety and revenue in deep discussion on what should be done.

“The dam safety wing is closely monitoring the situation of the dam. The government and dam safety wing have directed the Idukki district collector to issue details and messages to public to avoid confusion,” KSEB chief engineer (Dam Safety) Bibin Joseph told a source.

On Wednesday morning the water level in the Idukki reservoir calmly gave a rise to 2395.88 ft at 10.00am in the catchment area. When compared to the same day last year, the increase has been by 75.14 ft. It was 2320.70 on the same day in 2017.

While it didn't rain much in the night, there have been steady showers in the morning. The rainfall recorded in the area is about 15 mm.
The officials said that the storage in the catchment is at 91.68 percent accounting for 66,209.29 million cubic ft of water. The power generation has been at 15.102 million units at Moolamattom on Tuesday.

 Jeevan Babu K the district collector said that the district administration is ready to handle the situation of opening the shutters of the dam. The collector also said that warning notices have been issued to people in five panchayats in the water flow ways.

Meanwhile, orange alert has been issued in Idamalayar dam on Wednesday after the water levels reached 167.03 m. The maximum storage capacity of Idamalayar dam is 169 m.

Heavy rains in the state has led to 78 dams which are about to reach their maximum storage capacity soon.