Water level down at Idukki

Kottayam: The water level of the Idukki dam came down to 2,401.42 ft and Mulla-periyar to 140 ft on Monday. Idukki also reduced the spill of water from seven to six lakh litres per second.

Eight of 13 shutters of the Mullaperiyar dam remain closed as the inflow substantially lowered in the region.

A dead body of a man missing in landslides was found from Cheruthoni – Upputhodu. Two others were also missing here. The dece-ased has been identified as Ayyappankunnel Mat-hew. His wife Rajamma, son Vishal are still missing The buses resumed services partially in Thodupuzha.

Two police arrested Arun M. Nair and Denson Mathew, office-bearers NGO Friends of Anchuruli for allegedly defaming relief camps in Idukki district on the complaint Joyce George MP.

Rail, road ops near normal

The rail and road transport was restored back to near normal on Monday with the Southern Railway operating long-haul trains while the Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) op-erating buses to most of the destinations.

“Train operations were restored in all sections in the division except for the small stretch of Poo-nkunnam-Guruvayur br-anch line. The Ernak-ulam-Kannur Intercity Express was the first regular service to conduct service through Aluva bridge (Ernakulam-Thri-ssur section) today morning,” said a railway spok-esperson.

However, a total of 32 regular train services we-re cancelled and seven partially cancelled on Monday as many sets of rakes have to be brought back. “It will take two more days for the operations to be completely normal. However, we have started operating long-haul trains by eve-ning,” the official said.

A special train from Kochuveli to Chennai left Kochuveli at 5.20 pm and another a 12.20 midnight

“Key trains like Thiruvananthapuram-Kannur Janshatabdi Express, Thiruvananthapuram-Kurala Netravati Express and Thiruvananthap-uram-Mangalore Express will resume regular operation from Tuesday onw-ards,” he said.

Meanwhile, the KSRTC too started operations to almost all destinations in the state and the luxury services to Bangalore.

“We’ve restored all services except to the destinations in Idukki as the roads there were nearly washed away. Also we couldn’t operate in the Paravur-Aluva, Ernaku-lam-Paravur, Ernakulam-Kodungallor areas as the flood water is yet to recede from the areas,” said V.M. Thajudeen Sahib, Central Zonal Traffic Officer.

The KSRTC resumed operations from Pathanamthitta to destinations like Thiruvananthapur-am, Kottayam and Ernakulam on Monday.

However, near 400 buses could not be deployed back as either they got damaged in the flood water or have been temporarily used for relief activities.