Amid heavy rain, Bhakra water level rises by over 4 ft in 36 hours, Pong and Ranjit Sagar dams close to danger marks

Rivers in Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh have been running high following continuous rainfall across the region, and officials are releasing water from dams in a controlled manner.

Written by Anju Agnihotri Chaba

Updated: September 2, 2025 01:22 PM IST

The India Meteorological Department (IMD) issued a red alert for heavy rain in Patiala, SAS Nagar, Malerkotla, Fatehgarh Sahib, Ludhiana, Ropar, Nawanshahr, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, and Moga districts on Monday. (PTI Photo)

The water level in the Bhakra dam in Himachal Pradesh has risen by over 4-ft in the past 36 hours, amid heavy inflows from the catchment area of the Sutlej river. On Tuesday morning, the water level touched 1676.78 ft, just around 3.22 ft below its maximum permissible level of 1,680 ft. While the water level was 1672.68 ft afternoon on Sunday, it was around 1,671 ft for around a week.

According to officials, the Bhakra reservoir has been receiving heavy inflows of up to 1.9 lakh cusecs, which is more than three times what it was receiving in the past several days. The outflow remained around 53,000 cusecs on Monday. “The inflow has been consistently higher than the release, causing a rapid rise in the water level,” an official monitoring the situation said.

Meanwhile, the Pong dam and the Ranjit Sagar dam, which crossed their danger marks last week, continue to remain in the critical zone. Pong, whose maximum permissible level is 1,390 ft, touched 1,394 ft last week. The level has been brought down marginally and stands at 1,390.36 ft on Monday, with an outflow of nearly 1.1 lakh cusecs.

The Ranjit Sagar dam, which had touched its full reservoir capacity of 527.91 m, was also brought down to safer levels. On Monday, the water level in the dam stood at 524.93 m, with an outflow of around 41,000 cusecs against inflows fluctuating between 23,000–64,000 cusecs and outflow of around 42,000 cusecs.

At the downstream Shahpur Kandi dam, the water level was recorded at 399.78 m (against its maximum level of 405 m), with an outflow of nearly 39,000 cusecs.

Rivers in Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh have been running high following continuous rainfall across the region. At Harike, where the Sutlej and the Beas converge, the water flow recorded a discharge of over 2.66 lakh cusecs, while the Beas at Shah Nehar was flowing at 98,420 cusecs. On the Ravi river system, the Madhopur barrage reported outflows exceeding 31,000 cusecs.

Close monitoring underway

Authorities said the situation was being monitored around the clock, but cautioned that further heavy inflows could push the dams closer to their maximum thresholds again. “Controlled releases are being made to prevent sudden surges downstream, but the rising levels in Bhakra are a matter of close watch,” the official of the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) added.

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Officials said that if heavy inflows into the Bhakra dam continue, coupled with more rain downstream in Punjab, they could pose a serious concern for districts located along the Sutlej river system. The outflow from the dam is not very high now, but if the reservoir reaches its permissible limit while inflows remain heavy, the situation could worsen, BBMB officials added.

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