Chennai, Sep 25 (IANS): Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department will install a new shutter to replace the damaged one at the Parambikulam dam in Kerala's Palakkad at a cost of Rs 7 crore.

Sources in the Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department told IANS that the shutter will be replaced by the end of October. The department officials said that raw material for building a new shutter would be bought from the Salem steel plant or from other plants in north states where these products are being sold.

The old shutter was 42 feet wide and 27 feet high and weighed 35,000 tonnes. It was washed off on September 21 at 2 a.m.

This is one of the three shutters of Parambikulam dam in Palakkad district of Kerala which is maintained by the Tamil Nadu water resources department. Sources in the Water Resources Department of Tamil Nadu told IANS that the breakage in the counterweight chain was the reason for the destruction of the shutter.

After the shutter was damaged, the water level in the Chalakkudi river rose and hundreds of tribal families near the Parambikulam reservoir were shifted to safe locations.

The damage to the Parambikulam shutter is not an isolated incident in Tamil Nadu with the KRP dam in Krishnagiri and Mukkomdu being damaged a few years ago.

Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department officials apprehend that after this damage to the shutter the Kerala government may demand the take over of the maintenance of the dam as well as the maintenance of the controversial Mullaperiyar dam.