Dam collapse won’t affect water distribution: PWD Principal Secretary SK Prabakar

According to PWD officials, the water flow in Kollidam was around 23,000 cusecs on Thursday, and about 30,000 cusecs were let into the Cauvery for usual irrigation purposes. The water flow from Mayanur Barrage has been slowed down a bit to suit the current situation of the bridge.

“There would not any disruption of water supply to people residing along the river as the Kollidam Upper Anaicut is located slightly above the Cauvery Upper Anaicut. Therefore, only the excess water will get into Kollidam,” the officials said.

Meanwhile, the Principal Secretary told reporters that all the age-old bridges and regulators would be inspected to ensure their stability. “As of now, nine shutters and eight piers have been washed away leading to structural damage. However, we would carry out an enquiry to know the reason for the sudden collapse. People residing in the river banks need not to panic,” Prabakar said, adding that the water for irrigation purpose would continue to be distributed.

Moreover, Collector K Rajamani said, “A study on the stability of the bridge would be completed in a week. A poclain machinery that could work underwater will be brought here to carry out these works. All these will be done in a week, he assured.”

Meanwhile, Mannargudi S Ranganathan, the General Secretary of Cauvery delta farmers welfare association, called for a ban on sand mining for at least 10 years to save the irrigation structures across Cauvery and Kollidam. Further, he alleged that the deep dredging of sand in the river bed was the only reason for the collapse.

Similarly, MDMK General Secretary Vaiko alleged that the poor maintenance of the regulator and illegal sand mining was the root cause for the collapse. He said that the desilting works were also not carried out properly and therefore, the tail end farmers are yet to receive water. At the same time, the state government owes responsibility on the collapse as they had not conducted a detailed study on the stability of these water distributing structures, he charged.

Thanjavur district Collector A Annadurai inspected the water flow from the Kallanai canal to the tail end regions on Thursday.

After the farmers from the tail-end regions complained that they were yet to receive water, the district Collector A Annadurai organised a team of officials including the officials from the Public Works Department (PWD) and visited the canal and inspected the water flow. The Collector was also accompanied by PWD Chief Engineer Senthil Kumar.

Thereafter, the Collector also  conducted enquiries with the officials whether the water would reach the tail-end regions as the farmers are in dire need of water for irrigation purpose.

Later, the Collector inspected the stability of the canal banks and asked the officials to ensure the free flow of water in the canal. 

A day earlier, Principal Secretary (PWD) S K Prabakar, who had inspected the Kollidam river in Thanjavur, instructed the PWD engineers to ensure Cauvery water at the tail end of all rivers and canals in the district.