Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami on Friday dismissed the Kerala government’s allegation in the Supreme Court that a sudden release of water from the Mullaperiyar dam by Tamil Nadu led to flooding of its districts.
Mr. Palaniswami said the floods in Kerala were caused by very heavy rain and surplus flows from various dams in different parts of that State.
“The water released from the Mullaperiyar Dam flowed only in one part of the State. Water was released only after three warnings and that too in a gradual manner,” he told reporters in Tiruchi. The allegation was made with the intention of preventing the storage of water up to 142 feet at the dam, he said.
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Earlier, Mr. Palaniswami inspected the collapsed regulator across the Coleroon river at Upper Anicut. He spent nearly 30 minutes inspecting the damaged structure and also got into the river for a closer look at the damaged portion.
He announced that a new regulator would be built at a cost of ₹410 crore, about 100 metres away from the collapsed one.
Temporary repairs to plug the breached regulator would be completed in four days, and that samba cultivation would not be affected in any way.
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According to him, pressure due to sustained heavy discharge through the regulator led to the collapse of a portion of the brick masonry structure built in 1836 by Sir Arthur Cotton. He also denied allegations levelled by leaders of Opposition parties that rampant and illegal sand mining was the reason for the collapse. Sand mining was not done in the vicinity of the structure, he claimed. Mining was done only as per rules. The government was taking steps to gradually phase out use of sand and stop mining on rivers, he said.