One of the shutters of Pambar dam snapped open, draining out the reservoir by half, in Uthangarai, Krishnagiri on September 1. The shutter control break down was noticed on Thursday morning after the fourth shutter was found open to an horizontal angle. Of the reservoir’s full capacity of 19.69ft with 243mcft of water, the dam was drained to 100mcft. The water level stood at 9ft as of Thursday forenoon.
The breakdown of the shutter control has now been attributed to an electrical glitch caused by a trip failure. Speaking to The Hindu, Jayakumar, Assistant Engineer, Pambar dam, said, the shutter control is electrical and the line should trip causing the shutter movement to stop. However, the panel was found burnt causing a trip failure that had caused the breakdown in shutter control, Mr.Jayakumar said.
Now, the PWD officials have stepped in to drain the reservoir out of 39mcft of water inorder to start the repair works. “The water should be brought down to the crest level for the works to start. The basic works of bringing down the shutter to close will be completed in three days. But the entire work will be completed in 15 days,” Mr. Jayakumar said.
