Bhakra dam creates cushion space ahead of Himachal heavy-rain alert

The dam’s water level stood at 1,676.95 feet at 8 pm — three feet short of the permissible limit — with inflows fluctuating between 31,332 and 74,511 cusecs during the day. After touching 74,511 cusecs at one point, the inflow eased to 50,333 cusecs around 8 pm.

Officials in the Punjab Drainage Department said that even though the water release has been increased by 5,000 cusecs, there is no danger at the moment because the water in the downstream rivers is still well below their capacity. They added that they are mainly monitoring how the rainfall in Himachal as well as Punjab unfolds.

At Pong Dam on the Beas river, the outflow was recorded at 34,883 cusecs in the morning, which increased to 39,634 cusecs in the afternoon and further to 49,624 cusecs at 8 pm. The dam level was 1,390.21 feet, against the permissible limit of 1,390 feet. This season, however, the dam had already crossed this limit and had reached up to 1,394 feet when there was a huge flow of water in the river. Once the rains subsided, the dam authorities started releasing water downstream gradually in a controlled manner to create some cushion, as the rainy season is still pending in the state. The inflow at the dam was 34,559 cusecs in the evening, while it was 37,139 cusecs during the day.

At Ranjit Sagar Dam, the water level stood at 524.540 metres, about 2.5 metres below its permissible limit. The inflow ranged from 14,000 to 21,193 cusecs, while the outflow fell from 20,028 cusecs in the morning to 18,962 cusecs by 8 pm.

Meanwhile, the Satluj was flowing at 24,100 cusecs in Jalandhar against its capacity of over two lakh cusecs, and the Ghaggar was flowing at 33,475 cusecs at Sardulgarh bridge against its capacity of 42,000 cusecs. The Beas carried 60,459 cusecs at Dhilwan against its capacity of over two lakh cusecs, while the Ravi registered 10,754 cusecs at 8 pm in Madhopur against its capacity of one lakh cusecs.

Officials said the controlled releases are aimed at ensuring the safety of the reservoirs and preventing sudden surges in downstream rivers during the forecasted spell of heavy rain. They added that the situation is under control right now in both the dams and the rivers.

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