Tamil Nadu representatives on the Mullaperiyar subcommittee under the Supreme Court-appointed supervisory committee said on Wednesday that more water would be released from the dam only after the water level reached the maximum capacity of 142 ft.
The panel visited the dam on Wednesday in the wake of the rise in water level in the dam. The team was led by Central Water Commission executive engineer V. Rajesh. Kerala representatives demanded that Tamil Nadu release more water in the wake of the increasing water level.
After the visit, they held a meeting at the Mullaperiyar office at Kumily.
The Kerala representatives repeated the State’s long-pending demand that Tamil Nadu show the operating manual system to them. The operating manual system of the dam is with Tamil Nadu as the operation of the dam was entrusted with that State.
The operating manual contains details such as the quantity of water released per second for every inch of lifting the shutter. As the operating manual is kept out of bounds for the State team, Kerala is not aware of the quantity of water released, creating much apprehension among the people living in the downstream of the dam.
The water level in the dam has been going up at the rate of nearly 2 ft a day for the past four days and the level on Wednesday was 131.22 ft.
The Kerala representatives told The Hindu that Tamil Nadu should inform the State in advance in case of water release into the Periyar.
