TN Govt slams media on misreporting on Mullaperiyar

Chennai: Flaying a section of media for inaccurately reporting that the dam water was released by Kerala on Friday the Tamil Nadu government on Saturday urged the media to refrain from misreporting on the Mullaperiyar Dam in the interest and wellbeing of both the States - Tamil Nadu and Kerala.

The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan said that only 500 cusecs of water (against 514 according to some news reports) was released by the Tamil Nadu State Water Resources Department officials with prior intimation to Kerala.

In a statement, the minister also said that the misreporting on the Mullaperiyar Dam in a section of media appears to be intentional.

Earlier, the opposition AIADMK on Saturday demanded Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin to clarify the release of water from the Mullaperiyar reservoir by Kerala and sought his immediate intervention into the issue.

In a statement, AIADMK coordinator O Panneerselvam accused the Kerala government of going against the Supreme Court verdict (in 2014) that water could be stored up to 142 feet in the Mullaperiyar dam.

Earlier on Saturday, farmers' associations from Theni, Madurai, Dindigul, Sivaganga and Ramanathapuram districts registered their protest against the alleged move of the Kerala government, in their submission before the Theni District Collector.

The organisations claimed that the alleged move by Kerala would deprive their districts of water as they lacked direct access to dam water. The farmers had also said this would deny Tamil Nadu's rights, the AIADMK senior said condemning the neighbouring State.

Clarifying the issue, Tamil Nadu Water Resources Minister Duraimurugan said the Madurai regional Water Resources Department decided to open the dam after taking into account the surging water level in the reservoir. It was opened on the morning of October 28 by the engineers of the Water Resources Department as the water in the dam continued to rise.

Prior intimation was given to the Kerala government, as per the standing guidelines and the water was released in the presence of the Kerala Water Resources Minister and Kerala officials, he said.

This being the case, a section of the media falsely reported that the Kerala government had opened the dam, the Minister said and recalled his statement on Friday that 500 cusecs of water were let out from 7.30 AM.

As per the storage position at 8 AM today, the reservoir has 138.85 feet of water with an inflow of 3,404 cusecs. About 2,340 cusecs of water were drawn through the tunnel to the Vaigai Dam with a discharge of 875 cusecs, the minister explained.

The quantum of water to be released would vary according to the inflows, the Minister added.

Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department is monitoring the level of water in the dam on a regular basis as accorded by the Central Water Commission (CWC) and as per the order of the Supreme Court. There is no doubt that the dam can impound water up to the permitted level of 142 feet depending upon the inflows from November 30. It is the Tamil Nadu government that owns, maintains and operates the Mullaperiyar Dam (located in Kerala), as per the 999-year lease agreement signed by Tamil Nadu and Kerala in 1886, he pointed out.