THIRUVANNATHAPURAM: The amicus curiae had submitted a report in the court in which he had stated that flaw in the management of dams was one of the reasons for last year’s devastating floods in Kerala.

Now a prominent online media has released documents that substantiated the above report. The documents released by the online media says that even before the onset of flood-causing rains, the dams in Kerala were allowed to store double the quantity of water stored in previous years.

In earlier years before the monsoon, the level of water in dams was kept at 10 per cent of the permitted level. The average water level of dams in 2018 was 23.77 pc but in 2017, it was 12.11 pc. If the level of water was maintained as in previous years, the excess of water that flowed in due to heavy rains could have been stored in dams and could have been released to rivers at appropriate intervals.

“The excess summer rains in 2018 had wronged all earlier calculations. The delay in understanding the situation and anticipating the danger was the reason why the floods had turned into a catastrophe,” said the report.

Soon after the floods occurred, the page on the electricity board’s website about the level of water in dams was removed. This is presumed be an attempt to hide its flaws.

As the new documents and reports on the flaw of dam management have emerged, the big flaw is again becoming a topic of heated discussions.