Idukki water level comes down to 2,399.88ft

IDUKKI: On Friday the water level in Idukki reservoir came down to 2,399.88 feet when compared to the 2400.40 ft on Thursday. The dam safety wing continued to release water from Idukki dam at 200 cu m/sec apart from the 117 cu m/sec water that is being released for power generation.

The water level in Mullaperiyar dam has also come down, to 139.79 ft. The dam safety wing officials expect that within a week the water will reach a safe level. “The inflow to the dam has reduced and we hope it will reduce further in the coming days,” said KSEB executive engineer (dam safety) V S Balu.

“It will be a reconnaissance survey and the team will visit the landslide and flood-affected areas and collect details. The team will submit a report to NSF within one month. If needed, the team will conduct more study,” said Sajin Kumar.

Power minister M M Mani said that the government would seek assistance from the Army to restore the Cheruthoni and Periyavare bridges. Devikulam MLA S Rajendran has met the chief minister and asked for assistance to construct Bailey bridge at Periyavar.

“Two groups already visited the spot on Friday as part of constructing a Bailey bridge. The district collector or other revenue officials didn’t take a favourable step to restore traffic in the route,” Rajendran said. There are 2,821 occupants in the 35 relief camps functioning in the district, said officials.