Shimla: With inflow of water into dams because of rains expected to increase alarmingly, Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) authorities on Thursday August 25 decided to release an excess water any day as a precautionary step from its Pong dam located on the Himachal Pradesh-Punjab border.
They have alerted downstream authorities in both the states as the excess water will be released into the Beas river that may pose threat to villages and towns in Kangra district in Himachal and Ropar, Gurdaspur, Kapurthala, Jalandhar and Hoshiarpur districts in Punjab.
The dam on Beas river, located about 250 km from Shimla, serves the irrigation requirements of Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan.
The water level in the Pong dam stood at 1,381 feet on Thursday, whereas it was 1,362 feet on August 16.
Officials said the water level in BBMB’s another dam, Bhakra, stood at 1,658.79 feet, which was higher this time compared to the previous year. But still the level is much below the danger mark.
The water level in the Bhakra dam’s Gobind Sagar reservoir stood at 1,642 feet on August 16.
Nearly 25,000 cusecs of water will be flushed out, if the need arises, through spillways and turbines of the Pong dam, an official of the BBMB, which regulates the dam water, told IANS.
According to him, a discharge of up to 50,000 cusecs is not treated as flooding the downstream.
He said an advisory to release water has been issued to both the states after the India Meteorological Department (IMD) forecast of moderate to heavy rain in the dam’s catchment.
The dam authorities have issued an alert as the discharge could affect villages and towns mainly in Punjab.
The water discharge, he said, would continue till the rainfall in dam’s catchment subdues.
The inflow in the Pong dam was 31,680 cusecs on Thursday morning, while it was 34,479 in the Bhakra dam, which was normal, the official said.
As per the water regulation protocol, the water level in Bhakra dam to be maintained at 1,668 feet till August 15 and 1,678 feet till August 31.
In case of Pong dam, its water level is to be maintained at 1,382 feet as on August 15 and till 1,388 feet by August 31.
Bhakra and Pong dams are to be filled up to a level of 1,680 feet and 1,390 feet, respectively, by September, when the monsoon recedes.
