![T.N. opens 9 shutters of Mullaperiyar](https://www.thehindu.com/static/theme/default/base/img/og-image.jpg)
T.N. opens 9 shutters of Mullaperiyar
The Hindu
Water level falls at Idukki, repairs at Moolamattom power house begins
Tamil Nadu opened nine spillway shutters of the Mullaperiyar dam releasing 7,341.06 cusecs of water to the Periyar by 6 p.m. on Sunday. At 5 p.m. two shutters were opened to 30 cm and at 5.30 p.m., five shutters were raised to 90 cm.
In the past week, Tamil Nadu had released a huge quantum of water to the Periyar at night. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had written to his Tamil Nadu counterpart demanding that water be not released at night.
After the water level fell at Mullaperiyar dam on Sunday morning, Tamil Nadu closed all spillway shutters except one. There was heavy rainfall in the Chokkenpetty forest area in the afternoon resulting in increased inflow. Though water level was 141.95 ft at 4 p.m., considering the chances of it reaching the upper rule level of 142 ft, it was decided to open more spillway shutters.
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When fed into Latin, pusilla comes out denoting “very small”. The Baillon’s crake can be missed in the field, when it is at a distance, as the magnification of the human eye is woefully short of what it takes to pick up this tiny creature. The other factor is the Baillon’s crake’s predisposition to present less of itself: it moves about furtively and slides into the reeds at the slightest suspicion of being noticed. But if you are keen on observing the Baillon’s crake or the ruddy breasted crake in the field, in Chennai, this would be the best time to put in efforts towards that end. These birds live amidst reeds, the bulrushes, which are likely to lose their density now as they would shrivel and go brown, leaving wide gaps, thereby reducing the cover for these tiddly birds to stay inscrutable.