A substantial increase of over 40,000 cusecs in the flow into Tamil Nadu at Biligundlu in Krishnagiri district on Sunday morning has raised the prospects of the level in the Stanley reservoir at Mettur going up rapidly in the next few days.
With a higher quantum reaching the dam — the level has gone up to 74.70 feet against the Full Reservoir Level of 120 feet — the storage stood at 36.878 tmcft (thousand million cubic feet) against the full capacity of 93.470 tmcft, PWD officials said. This helped the authorities start up the hydro power generation, with 152 MW produced against the installed capacity of 250 MW. The generation could be increased if the discharge went up, the officials said.
In view of the Aadi Perukku festival falling on August 3 and to meet drinking water requirements, the water release from the dam has been increased from 800 cusecs to 6,000 cusecs since the morning.
Meanwhile, with the large inflow at Biligundlu after heavy rains in the Cauvery’s catchments in Karnataka and the excess flows into the Kabini and KRS dams being let into the river for the last 10 days, the Hogenakkal Falls remains out of bounds for tourists and coracle operators.
Muniyakannan, 82, of Vaniyambadi in Vellore district, who was washed away in the river near the Mariamman Temple at Hogenakkal, was rescued by revenue officials with the help of two coracle operators on Sunday afternoon, Collector K. Vivekanandan said. He was shifted to the government hospital at Pennagaram.
The floods have affected the coracle operators. “The government should offer compensation to the coracle operators and others who depend on tourism,” said J. Muthu, president of the All Coracle Operators Association.
Mr. Vivekanandan said a proposal would be soon sent to the government for giving them compensation from the Disaster Management Fund.
