The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) on Monday morning opened one of the four spillway shutters of the Banasura Sagar dam at Padinjarethara following heavy inflow from the catchment areas.
The shutter was raised in the presence of Revenue Minister K. Rajan.
The catchment areas had been witnessing heavy rain for the past four days, Dam Safety officials said.
The officials told The Hindu that the shutter was raised at 8.10 a.m. after the water level in the reservoir crossed 774.25 m. The full reservoir level is 775.6 m. “The shutter was raised by 10 cm in the morning and the rate of flow was maintained at 8.5 cubic metres per second (8,500 litres a second). But the Dam Safety authorities raised the shutter by 20 cm at 2.30 p.m. after the inflow of water increased considerably.” The rate of inflow is being maintained at 17 cubic metres a second (17,000 litres a second).
The water is being discharged through the Karamanthodu River to the Panamaram River, a tributary of the Kabani.
“As all arrangements were made prior to the raising of the spillway shutter, there is no need for worries,” Mr. Rajan said. “Flood warning was issued to people residing in low-level areas along the banks of the Panamaram River and a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) is deployed in low-lying areas such as Panamaram to meet any emergency,” Mr. Rajan said.
District Collector A. Geetha, T. Siddique MLA, Subcollector R. Sreelakshmi, and Dam Safety Executive engineer M.C. Baburaj accompanied the Minister.
