Odisha on high alert as Hirakud dam opens 22 gates amid rising Mahanadi River
Ten districts downstream of the Mahanadi in Odisha have been put on high alert as the Hirakud Dam continued to release water through 22 gates
Ten districts downstream of the Mahanadi in Odisha have been put on high alert as the Hirakud Dam continued to release water through 22 gates on Saturday, inundating low-lying areas. Officials said the flood situation has affected more than 8.34 lakh people in 20 districts, while civic infrastructure and large areas of cropped land have been damaged. Floods caused by overflowing rivers have also damaged more than 1,300 houses in north Odisha, with Bhadrak the worst-hit district, followed by Jajpur, Balasore and Mayurbhanj. Read Full Story Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi, who returned on Friday night after a four-day visit to the national capital, is conducting an aerial survey of the affected areas along with Revenue and Disaster Management Minister Suresh Pujari and senior officers.
Odisha's Special Relief Commissioner Rajesh Prabhakar Patil said 10 downstream districts of the Mahanadi have been put on high alert. An official said special focus was on Cuttack, Puri, Khurda, Jagatsinghpur and Kendrapada, which have been identified as highly vulnerable because they are located in the Mahanadi delta area. The other districts in the basin on alert are Angul, Boudh, Sambalpur, Subarnapur and Nayagarh. Officials said the floods were triggered not only by the Mahanadi but also by the overflowing Salangi, Brahmani, Baitarani, Jalaka and Budhabalang rivers. At the Hirakud Dam, the water level stood at 625.47 feet against its full capacity of 630 feet.
"Since the inflow to the dam is about 4.15 lakh cusec, the reservoir level will certainly rise in a few hours. The average outflow was 3,89,603 cusecs," an official said. Majhi's Delhi visit had led the BJP's rivals to accuse the ruling party of lacking sincerity in dealing with the calamity, with Leader of Opposition Naveen Patnaik asking whether "the leaders were feasting in Delhi amid the flood horrors". Pujari rejected the charge, saying the chief minister was discharging "Raj Dharma" by pursuing a resolution of the Mahanadi water dispute with Chhattisgarh in the national capital, an issue he said the previous Naveen Patnaik government had failed to resolve.
Pujari said he hoped the flood situation would improve, noting that there had been no rain for the past two days and that water discharge from the dam appeared to have stabilised. Officials also said the water level at the Mundali barrage near Cuttack had come down to about 7 lakh cusec from 8.88 lakh cusec on Thursday night, even as authorities remained on alert across the affected districts. Ends
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