Collector D. Krishna Bhaskar asked the project oustees of the Mid Manair Dam (MMD) reservoir, from various villages, to vacate their houses since heavy inflows were expected into the project area following the rains in the catchment area of Upper Manair Dam (UMD).
Steady inflows
In a statement here on Sunday, the Collector said that the Upper Manair dam, the catchment area of MMD, had been receiving steady inflows into the project at a rate of 1058 cusecs. The UMD capacity was 2.2 tmcs. As the inflows into UMD were likely to increase by Monday due to rains in the region, there was every possibility of water being released into the MMD. Hence, the villagers of the project were informed to vacate their houses, and shift to the relief and rehabilitation colonies at the earliest, the note stated.
It may be recalled that the Mid Manair earth dam constructed as part of the Sriramsagar Project Flood Flow Canal, was breached on September 25 last year following the deluge of floods. Luckily, there were no casualties.
The State government had expedited the construction of Mid Manair Dam on a war-footing as the project was to act as a balancing reservoir for the Kaleshwaram lift irrigation project.
Though the Mid Manair Dam was designed to store 26 tmcs of water initially, the authorities have decided to store only 10 tmcs of water during this year as per norms for the new project.
A total of 16 villages were submerged under the project.
Impediments to relocation
But, non-payment of compensation to the villagers in some villages is likely to hamper their relocation to the R&R colonies.