Sambalpur, July 23: The season’s first floodwater was released from Hirakud dam on Sunday at 9 AM. The dam authorities released the floodwater from sluice gate no. 7 of the left dyke. And four more gates were opened in a phased manner to release the excess water.
Now, excess water is being released through five sluice gates- three from left side and two from right side of the dam.
When the gate was opened, water level of the dam stood at 614.87 ft against the full reservoir level of 630 ft.
Religious rituals were performed at the dam site before the opening of the sluice gate. Senior officials of the Hirakud Dam Project were present during the rituals.
Meanwhile, Hirakud dam Chief Engineer accused neighbouring Chhattisgarh Government of not cooperating and sharing status in upper catchment areas since 2019.
“Chhattisgarh is not sharing information about release of water from dam and storage. It is neither attending nor convening NCDS meeting for which the exchange of data between the two States is not possible. We are collecting information for floodwater management from CWC, IMD forecast and own sources,” said the Chief Engineer.
