Mullaperiyar dam | Photo: ANI
Idukki: Intense protests were witnessed against Tamil Nadu after they opened the shutters of Mullaperiyar dam without giving proper warning on Wednesday night. Minister for Water Resources Roshy Augustine said that the chief minister will express unhappiness to Tamil Nadu government on this matter. The minister added that he will demand a meeting of the monitoring committee.
Several houses were waterlogged after Tamil Nadu opened shutters of Mullaperiyar dam on Wednesday night. The people residing on the banks of Periyar river are undertaking a blockade on the Kollam-Dindigul national highway at Kakki junction near Vandiperiyar.
The minister stated that the act of opening the dam shutters at night without warning was not right. All actions are initiated to protect the people. We will convey our protest on this matter to Tamil Nadu government, Roshy Augustine said.
The shutters of dam were closed on Wednesday morning. But they were opened again later when the inflow of water increased due to rainfall. With this, two more shutters were opened in addition to the already open eight shutters. Shutters were opened by 60 centimetres first and they were lowered by 30 centimetres later.
No warning was issued when the shutters were opened first. When the shutter was opened at 2.30 pm, the warning was given at 2.44 pm. After this, more shutters were opened by 3.30 pm but the warning was received at 4.27 pm. 8000 cumecs of water is released from the dam and later this was reduced to 4206 cumecs.
This is the fourth time in a month Mullaperiyar dam is opened at night without warning. Two shutters were opened in a similar manner two days ago.