CESS director John Mathai informed this soon after visiting the tremor hit areas in Idukki district on Sunday. Meanwhile the water level in the Mullaperiyar reservoir touched 136 feet, the maximum level stipulated by the Central Water Commission, on Sunday morning and started overflowing into the Kerala side to the Idukki reservoir.
The overflow started on Sunday, three of the 13 shutters of the spillway were overflowing.
The district authorities issued the third warning to those living on the banks of the Periyar since there were chances of the water level rising as the overflow intensified in the coming days.
The district authorities issued the warning once the water level reached 135 feet. As the water level reached higher it has started overflowing into the spillway 1 and 2. Experts are visiting Idukki areas which was shaken by the mild tremor on Saturday.
The water level touched a peak following incessant rains. Locals from Ayappankovil, Uppathara, Kanchiaru villages are holding a hartal on Sunday to immediately resolve the Mullaperiyar issue.
Recurrence of mild tremors in Idukki district in Kerala is causing concern over the safety of the Mullaperiyar dam, located on the borders with Tamil Nadu.
As many as 26 mild tremors and after-vibrations have occurred in parts of Idukki and adjoining Kottayam and Pathanamthitta districts since January this year, officials said.
Any such incident is of great concern for Kerala as Mullaperiyar dam, set to be in a vulnerable state is situated in the district.
Mullaperiyar dam was built when this part of Kerala was part of the Travancore princely state and Tamil Nadu under the Madras province under the British rule.
The dam has since then been a major source irrigation for the agricultural belt of central Tamil Nadu districts. For the past two decades however, the dam has been a subject of hot dispute between the neighbouring states.
While Kerala wants to decommission the structure and build a new one, that idea has not found favour with Tamil Nadu. Apart from local resistance groups, political parties on both sides have often taken aggressive postures on the issue.
In 2006, Kerala government passed the Kerala Irrigation and Water Conservation (Amendment) Act 2006, which prohibited the raising of water level beyond 136 ft in the Mulla Periyar Dam as it was placed under the Schedule of ‘Endangered Dams’.
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