Flood-like situation in Punjab, Himachal; BBMB to keep floodgates open

Chandigarh, Aug 16 (IANS) All floodgates of the Bhakra and Pong dams will remain open for the next four-five days as heavy rains in catchment areas this week have alarmingly increased the water level in the reservoirs, a senior official of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) that regulates both dams said on Wednesday.

Hundreds of villages in Punjab and Himachal Pradesh located along the swollen Satluj and Beas rivers were inundated with the opening of floodgates of the dams as the inflow in their reservoirs has alarmingly increased owing to torrential rains in its catchment, mainly in the hill state.

"For the next four-five days the controlled release of water from the floodgates of both Bhakra and Pong dams would continue to keep the water in the reservoirs at the safe level," BBMB Secretary Satish Singla told the media here.

He said that the board is continuously monitoring the situation. "With the heavy rainfall from August 12 to 14, the water inflow in the both dams was alarmingly high. Thereafter the management decided to release excess water through the floodgates to ensure the safety of the dams," he said.

"Now the inflow in the reservoirs has reduced with the decline in the rainfall activity, but the water level is still high. We will release the water in a phased manner in the coming days as the Met Department predicted no major rainfall activity in the region," said Singla, adding, “We are releasing the water after intimation the partner states."

The board is currently releasing 80,000 cusecs of water everyday from Bhakra and nearly 1 lakh from the Pong dam.

Both dams serve the irrigation requirements of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.

With the opening of the floodgates, flood-like situation prevailed mainly in Punjab's Ropar, Anandpur Sahib and Hoshiarpur districts and Himachal's Kangra district.

In Punjab, the inundation of villages has been reported second time within a month, severely impacting the standing crops.

Currently, the water level in the Bhakra dam's Gobind Sagar reservoir and the Pong dam reservoir stood at 1,677 feet and 1,398 feet, respectively.

The BBMB didn't release the floodgates when the region saw torrential rains on July 8 and 9. For the first time the floodgates were opened on August 15.

The Pong dam reservoir is spread over an area of 41 km with a maximum width of 19 km in Himachal Pradesh.

It came into existence after the construction of the dam on the Beas river in 1975.

The Bhakra project is a marvel in engineering.

The 225.55 metre high dam is of concrete straight gravity type having a gross storage capacity of 9,621 million cubic metre.