With just two weeks left for the onset of the southwest monsoon, the government has initiated a series of measures for dam management to prevent floods. As many as 16 dams and four barrages under the Irrigation Department have been equipped with satellite phones and monitoring committees would be constituted for river basins.
The committees, to be headed by executive engineers, will decide on raising the shutters of dams after assessing the water inflow into reservoirs based on weather forecasts. The information will be passed on to senior officials and posted on the Irrigation Design and Research Board (IDRB) website for public access.
Satellite phones
The satellite phones supplied by the BSNL will provide communication between officials in charge of the dams and the respective district administration. They will be used to convey information on the water level in reservoirs, the inflow and the volume of water let out.
A meeting chaired by Water Resources Minister K. Krishnankutty here on Tuesday decided to allocate ₹30 lakh each to executive engineers in the Irrigation Department to clean up canals leading to dams and regulators. Officials informed the meeting that the shutters of the Malankara dam had been raised and those of the Kallada and Peechi dams would also have to be raised before the monsoon if the water level goes up.
Dam engineers were asked to discuss the matter with district officials. The water level in reservoirs would be recorded at 8 a.m., 12 noon and 4 p.m. every day. The Minister said diesel generators would be pressed into service to operate dam gates during emergencies.
