Cheruthoni dam to be opened
The Hindu
With water nearing the red alert level, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) completed all arrangements to open the Cheruthoni dam of the Idukki reservoir on Friday.A dam safety official said the
With water nearing the red alert level, the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) completed all arrangements to open the Cheruthoni dam of the Idukki reservoir on Friday.
A dam safety official said the KSEB got permission from the State Disaster Management Authority to open the dam shutters at 3 p.m. on Friday. Water Resources Minister Roshy Augustine said 100 cusecs of water would be released. The present water level in the Periyar is below two metres of the warning level, he said.
It was decided to open the Cheruthoni dam shutters considering the additional inflow in case of opening of the spillway shutters of the Mullaperiyar dam. The water level in the Idukki reservoir reached 2,398.30 ft by night. The red alert level is 2,398.31 ft. The dam safety wing will issue a red alert soon, said the official.
The election authorities are gearing up for the counting of votes cast in the simultaneous elections to Lok Sabha and Assembly seats in Andhra Pradesh, scheduled to be held on June 4. The Collectors and Election Officers of Visakhapatnam, Anakapalli and Alluri Sitharama Raju (ASR) districts said on May 23 (Thursday) that their teams were ready for the counting of votes.
Responding to the prolonged water scarcity, the residents of the area took to the streets in protest on Wednesday. The protest, which drew attention to their plight, stopped only after the intervention of the police. It was not until 1.30 p.m. that a 4000-litre tanker was finally delivered by BWSSB, providing relief to the water-starved residents.