Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M.K. Stalin on Sunday urged Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan to intervene and maintain the storage of the Siruvani dam at the full reservoir level in future to meet the water requirements of Coimbatore and its suburbs.
“Considering the water shortage faced by the city, I look forward to a positive response in this regard,” he said in a letter to Mr. Vijayan. A copy of the letter was released to the media.
Mr. Stalin said Kerala’s irrigation department was maintaining the maximum water level at 877.00 m instead of the full reservoir level of 878.50 m, as stipulated in the inter-State agreement. Lowering the level by 1.5 m, he pointed out, had resulted in a shortage of 122.05 million cubic feet (mc ft), 19% of the total storage. “This creates difficulties in catering to the needs of Coimbatore city in summer months,” he said.
Mr. Stalin said that for the past six years, the State had received water only in the range of 0.484 tmc ft to 1.128 tmc ft, as against 1.30 tmc ft stipulated in the agreement. “Our team has been continuously requesting the officials from your side to take the necessary steps to restore the storage to the full reservoir level. I have also written to you personally on this issue. However, so far no steps have been taken by the Irrigation Department of Kerala to restore the storage to the full reservoir level,” he said.
