PALAKKAD: The inter-State sharing of waters between Tamil Nadu and Kerala suffered a blow on December 22 when Tamil Nadu abruptly stopped the release of water from the Parambikulam- Aliyar Project (PAP) to the Sholayar reservoir in Kerala.

Sources in the Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) said here on Thursday that in spite of repeated requests from the State Government and the KSEB, the Tamil Nadu authorities have not resumed water flow to the Kerala Sholayar. They said Tamil Nadu diverted 800 mcft of water from the Tamil Nadu Sholayar to the Parambikulam reservoir. This was done at a time when the gross storage of the Parambikulam reservoir was 93.5 per cent of the total capacity.

KSEB officials said Tamil Nadu's strategy was to empty the Kerala Sholayar reservoir by diverting the waters to the Parambikulam reservoir, and from there to the Tunacadavu and Thirumoorthy reservoir, to be utilised for irrigation in Tamil Nadu. In the process, it can generate power at the Tamil Nadu Sholayar PH-1 (70 MW), Sarkarpathy (30 MW) and Thirumoorthy mini-hydel. The development is likely to affect irrigation under the Chalakudy Irrigation Project, which depends on the waters from Sholayar reservoir. Already the reservoir level had come down from 2,658.60 ft on December 12, 2006, to 2,653.30 ft on January 3, 2007, as the KSEB was releasing the irrigation water to Chalakudy Irrigation Scheme. It will also result in energy loss of 96 MU for the KSEB. The loss is estimated at Rs.55.70 crore at Rs.5.80 a unit of inter-State tariff.

As per the PAP agreement, Tamil Nadu has to ensure 12.3 tmc feet water at Kerala Sholayar annually for power generation, irrigation and drinking water requirements under the Chalakudy Irrigation Project areas. It should also maintain Full Reservoir Levels (FRL) on every September 1 and February 1.

Denies violation

Special Correspondent writes from Chennai: There is no violation of any provisions of the Parambikulam-Aliyar Project pact, said a senior official of the Public Works Department. Confirming that the water supply to the Kerala Sholayar dam had been stopped, the official said this was done because Kerala had realised most of its share of water for the current year.

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