The Hindu : Front Page : Red Hills dam opened after six years

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 27, 2005

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Front Page

Red Hills dam opened after six years

City Bureau

Though precautionary measures have been taken, flow of water across link roads threatens to cut off villages

SHIFTING TO SAFETY: Residents of Aamulavoyal near Manali leaving their village after the opening of the Red Hills reservoir on Saturday. — Photo: K. Pichumani

CHENNAI/TIRUVALLUR: After six years, the shutters of the Red Hills reservoir were lifted on Saturday morning (8. 30 a.m.) to release water into the 13-km-long surplus canal.

In the morning, the storage stood at 3,084 million cubic feet (full capacity 3,300 mcft) with an inflow of 1,767 cusecs. About 500 cusecs was released as surplus. Another 100 cusecs was released for supply in the city.

When Rural Industries Minister B Valarmathi and Tiruvallur Collector Pankaj Kumar Bansal lifted the gates, water came out roaring into the canal across Samiyarmadam, Vadakarai, Thandalkalani, Vadaperumbakkam, Aamulavoyal and Sadayankuppam villages. The excess water reaches the Buckingham canal at Ennore.

Bunds built by the Tiruvallur administration protected huts from getting submerged. But the flow across small link roads threatened to cut off the villages from the main road.

At Aamulavoyal, water flows above the road bridge. People wade through water to reach the other side. Fearing water would enter their homes, residents of Samiyarmadam, which is at the beginning of the surplus canal, staged a road roko on the national highway to Calcutta. But as the floodwater flowed only along the canal, they called off their agitation in half an hour.

Despite a let-up in rain, the Red Hills reservoir received over 1,000 cusecs on Saturday night. The level stands at 20.53 feet against (full level 21.2 feet). Surplus from the Sathyamurthy Sagar dam and the Chembarambakkam reservoir is also being released. The maximum ouflow is from the Chembarambakkam lake (4,500 cusecs). As the Adyar carries the lake's surplus, thousands along the river's banks were affected.

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