Release of water from a dam that has crossed its full-reservoir level can be a tricky affair for officials involved in the rehabilitation of people living downstream. The Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) has now come up with an Emergency Action Plan to face such eventualities in the wake of the lessons learnt during two consecutive years of floods in the State.
A stakeholders’ meeting on the plan was held at the Kozhikode collectorate on Wednesday in which the action plan for dams under the Kuttiyadi hydroelectric project in the district was discussed. Gourav Singhai, Deputy Director, Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project, Central Water Commission, opened the stakeholders’ meeting.
A senior KSEB official told The Hindu that the plan was prepared in line with the guidelines of the Central Water Commission.
The KSEB conducted a study on 27 dams across the State to find out how the excess release of water could be managed and officials could be effectively coordinated. The impact of the water release too was studied along with fixing of responsibilities on various government departments for rehabilitation.
The official pointed out that the amount of water flowing out of the dam and the velocity of water that reaches the areas downstream had been calculated to help the officials devise rehabilitation plans. There are maps of locations that are likely to face floods. Stakeholders such as the India Meteorological Department, Kerala Disaster Management Authority were being roped in to include their views. The focus of the plan is to reduce human casualties and destruction of properties to a bare minimum during natural disasters.
A release said that the Kuttiyadi hydroelectric project is the first such one to be commissioned in north Kerala, in 1972. The Kakkayam dam, Kuttiyadi subsidiary dam, spillway dam and six checkdams are part of the project.
The Kuttiyadi river mainly flows through Koyilandy taluk and at the fag end reaches the border of Vadakara taluk. The official claimed that similar meetings would continue to be held in the coming years and new suggestions and proposals would be added.
