Water release from Poondi reservoir doubled
The Hindu
Outflow into Kosasthalaiyar river will be stored in 12 checkdams before reaching the sea
The Water Resources Department (WRD) doubled the outflow from the Poondi reservoir in Tiruvallur on Monday as the waterbody received inflow from upstream waterways for the second day.
This is the first time in a decade that water had been discharged before the onset of the northeast monsoon. Officials of the WRD recalled that the reservoir’s floodgates were opened under similar circumstances once in 1996 and then in 2011.
“We had to step up outflow to nearly 2,000 cubic feet per second (cusecs) as the reservoir received inflow from one of the arms of Nagari river through Pallipet. Water from Ammapalli Dam in Andhra Pradesh and catchment areas flowed through Nagari river. Surplus water of two tanks upstream also flowed into the reservoir through Nandi river,” an official said.
A crowd comprising farmers, researchers, professors, students, and horticulture enthusiasts thronged the ICAR-Indian Institute of Horticultural Research (IIHR), Hesaraghatta, Bengaluru, on Friday for the inaugural ceremony of the Triphal Diversity Show which showcased 300 mango, 100 jackfruit, and 100 banana genotypes in collaboration with ICAR-National Research Centre for Banana, Tiruchirappalli.
The State government on Friday constituted a Special Investigation Team (SIT), headed by Additional Director-General of Police, Manish Kharbikar of the Economic Offences division of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to probe the alleged multi-crore scam in the government-run Maharshi Valmiki Scheduled Tribes Development Corporation.