Rule curve norms not violated: Government

BHUBANESWAR: The State Government on Wednesday refuted the opposition charges that there has been mismanagement of Hirakud reservoir water and the rule curve norms violated.  In a release, the Water Resources Department maintained that the present live storage capacity of the reservoir is about 3.91 million acre feet. From September 9 to September 12, about 7.69 million acre feet of inflow into the reservoir from upper catchments were recorded which is approximately double the live storage capacity of the Hirakud dam. The Government maintained that it was decided to open the gates in phases to release such a large amount of inflow. Besides, there was also constant exchange of information between the engineers of Orissa and Chhattisgarh on inflow prediction to help dam management, the release stated. Torrential rainfall in the upper catchments led to opening of the sluice gates from September 2 in phases. Both the major Opposition political parties, Congress and BJP, had described the flood as man-made and criticised the State Government for the  mismanagement of water in the reservoir. Governor Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare had also sought a report on the issue from the Government and suggested that an expert committee be set up to find out the facts.  According to the release, the approximate catchment area lying above the  Hirakud reservoir is 84,000 sq km. The storage capacity of the reservoir is much less in comparison to the yield from the upper catchment, most of which lies in Chhattisgarh, it said and added that there is about 58,000 sq km of uncontrolled catchment below the reservoir. Eminent engineer Dr AN Khosla, former governor of Orissa and ex-chairman of the Central Water Commission (CWC), had recommended unified development of Mahanadi basin through storage dams at Hirakud, Tikarpada and Naraj to mitigate floods in 1945. But except Hirakud, other projects could not materialise due to largescale displacement, submergence and other problems. The State Government maintained that considering the present status of Hirakud dam, a high power committee was formed in 2007 under the  chairmanship of R Jayaseelam, former chairman of the CWC, for proper management and use of Hirakud dam water. The committee which submitted its report in August, 2007 had advised to allocate maximum 10 per cent of the live storage water to industries, out of which only 2 per cent is being drawn by industries.