Chennai, Sept 25 (BPNS)

Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department would install a new shutter replacing the damaged shutter at the Parambikkulam dam in Palakkad at a cost of Rs 7 crore.

Sources in the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department told BPNS that the shutter will be replaced by the end of October. The department officials said that the raw materials for building a new shutter would be bought from the Salem steel plant. Officials however said this has not been finalized and that the raw materials could be purchased from other plants in north Indian states where these products are being sold.

The old shutter, it may be recalled was 42 feet wide and 27 feet high and 35000 tonnes and was washed off on September 21 at 2 am.

This is one of the three shutters of Parambikkulam dam in Palakkad district of Kerala which is maintained by the Tamil Nadu water resources department. Sources in the Water Resources Department of Tamil Nadu told IANS that the breakage in the counterweight chain was the reason for the destruction of the shutter.

After the shutter was damaged, the water level in the Chalakkudi river rose leading to the replacement of hundreds of tribal families near the Parambikkulam reservoir were shifted to safe locations.

It is to be noted that the damage to the Parambikkulam shutter is not an isolated incident in Tamil Nadu with the KRP dam in Krishnagiri and Mukkomdu being damaged a few years ago.

Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department officials are worried whether this damage to the shutter could lead to the Kerala government demanding take over of the maintenance of the dam from Tamil Nadu as well as the maintenance of the controversial Mullaperiyar dam.