Danger of floods has
abated in the state due to decrease in inflows into the Bhakra Dam
giving the authorities confidence to reduce discharge from its
floodgates that was resulting in flooding of the Sutlej River in the
Anandpur Sahib area.
The BBMB
authorities, who held a meeting with the partner states here today,
breathed a sigh of relief with a break in the near month-long inflow
pattern. Inflows, which were in the range of around 70,000-80,0000
cusecs every day, had resulted in speedy filling up of the dam as well
as resultant forced discharge.
The inflows have
gone down to 56,000 cusecs since yesterday. Accordingly, discharge
from the floodgates has been brought down to 11,000 cusecs from
16,000-20,000 earlier. As much as 35,000 cusecs is being discharged
into the Sutlej through the two power plants at the dam site. The
remaining 10,000 cusecs is being stored in the reservoir.
Meanwhile, the BBMB
has decided to allow the water level in the Bhakra to rise till a
level of 1680 feet till September 10. The dam level presently is
1674.54 feet.
Board member
(Irrigation) MK Gupta said the dam authorities could now allow less
than half-a-foot of water to be filled every day and excess water
would be released into the Sutlej. According to the present trends, it
would be possible as a 24-hour inflow of 20,000 cusecs raises the dam
level by one foot. Gupta said the dam authorities had already kept a
leeway for stocking 10,000 cusecs every day.
Chief Engineer
(Irrigation) Amarjit Singh Dullat said the dam authorities were being
cautious to ensure a cushion in case of flash floods. He said
arrangements were also being made to take excess water from the Bhakra
to the Pong Dam, if needed.
Dullat said there
could, however, be problems in case of excessive rains during
month-end, saying there were warnings of heavy rain for a two-day
spell starting August 28.
It was also decided
in the meeting to allow the level of the Pong Dam to go up to 1385
feet till September 10. The level is 1380 feet as of now. Despite a
margin of only five feet, BBMB authorities claim there is no danger of
flooding as very low discharge is being done from the dam in an
attempt to fill it up.
Meanwhile, All-India
Power Engineers’ Federation chairman Padamjit Singh has claimed that
the BBMB had acted in undue haste in releasing water from the dam on a
day Punjab was witnessing heavy rains. He said this had resulted in
flooding of areas in Anandpur Sahib. Padamjit said since there was no
emergency, the BBMB could have waited for a dry day to make the
releases
