Even as the long-felt demand of renovating the shutters of Anaikuttam dam across the Arjuna river near here has begun, a section of councillors have raised objection to the move to reduce the height of a check dam downstream.
Communist Party of India (Marxist) councillor Jayakumar complained that the Public Works Department had demolished the upper part of the check dam without the consent of the Virudhunagar Municipal Council.
The check dam stores water that is released from the Anaikuttam dam and helps recharge 14 infiltration wells of Virudhunagar Municipality which supplements water supply to the town.
However, a Water Resources Department Engineer said the height of the check dam located some 800 metres downstream of the shutters had to be reduced to prevent corrossion of shutters.
The crest level of the 1.8-metre high check dam was 0.5 metre above the sill level (bottom level) of the shutters. “This led to water flowing through the nine shutters stagnanting downstream the shutters and resulted in corrosion of the shutters,” he said. Hence, its height was being reduced by one metre.
The dam constructed in 1989 lost the operation of the shutters after heavy corrsion. All the rainwater that flowed from the Western Ghats escaped through the damaged shutters. “The rusting of the shutters resulted in its malfunction,” he added.
The State government has sanctioned ₹28 crore to replace all the nine shutters.
Fabrication of the shutters was under way in Tiruchi. The mechanical operation of the shutters would be replaced. The work was expected to be completed by March 2024.
This would help store water up to 7.5 metres height in some 200 hectares of area.
“Once storage of water in the dam is started, the infiltration wells will automatically get recharged and there will be no problem in continous supply of drinking water by Virudhunagar municipality,” he added.
