IDUKKI: With catchment areas receiving copious rains in the past two days, water level in the 116-year-old Mullaperiyar dam today rose to 135.7 feet, against the maximum permissible storage level of 136 feet.The district administration said there was no room for panic but opened three control rooms to monitor the situation and help the people in case of emergency.Acording to official sources, two spillways of the dam had been opened as the water level rose by about five feet since yesterday.The flow of water towards Tamil Nadu, however, had thinned as the reservoirs and canals of adjoining districts of the state are full on account of heavy rains received by the area in the past two days, sources said.Meanwhile, a team of scientists are conducting inspection in the Mullaperiyar area to ascertain the impact of recent tremors on the safety of the dam.Kerala has escalated demand for construction of a new dam at Mullaperiyar holding that the present structure posed a grim threat to nearly 3 million people, mainly in Idukki, Kottayam and Ernakulam districts.Both the ruling Congress-led UDF and the opposition LDF have also sought urgent Central intervention to resolve the tiff between the two states by persuading Tamil Nadu to agree to the idea of a new dam.However, holding a contradictory view, Tamil Nadu has opposed construction of a new dam, asserting that the present reservoir "is as safe and good as new" and accused Kerala of whipping up fear psychosis.Meanwhile, other southern districts of Kerala, including the capital, have been battered by rains in the last two days under the infulence of a depression formed in the sea off the Kanyakumari coast.
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