Reservoirs near capacity, Pong and Bhakra dams to release 98,000 cusecs water daily

Sources said, in the meeting attended by officials from Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan, it was decided that while 98,000 cusecs of water would be released from Bhakra and Pong dams, 23,000 cusecs would be released to Rajasthan and Haryana. While both the states had earlier refused to take flood water from Punjab, they have agreed now as the damns needed to be emptied lest it becomes an emergent situation, said a functionary of Punjab government.

He added that Punjab’s canal network will also carry 20,000 cusecs. “All this would take care of about 1.5 lakh cusecs of water. As it will be distributed evenly now, Punjab does not need to fear,” said the functionary.
He added that while they did not need to worry about Bhakra dam as it still had water below 25 feet of capacity. But in Pong dam, it was at 15 feet below the capacity. Also, the Pong dam was not able to carry as much water as Bhakra.
The Ranjit Sagar Dam, he said, was not a cause of concern for the state as it had input of 20,000 cusec everyday while, the output was at 25,000 cusecs. This much of water flowed through Ravi river without causing any destruction.

“From Pong, water will be released into Beas. That is the only damn that is worrying us. We will be releasing 50,000 cusecs from Pong. However, 50,000 cusecs is also not a lot of water. It does not cause destruction,” he said.

From Bhakra dam, 48,000 cusecs would be released in Sutlej. Haryana and Rajasthan will be getting 10,000 cusecs from BML network and 13,000 cusec respectively.

He said that the water carried silt and it is likely to cause silting in the canal network. “But now, the neighbour states cannot refuse. The damn water has to be released.”

BBMB sets new record in daily electricity generation

BBMB has set a new daily electricity generation record of 615.14 lakh units on July 24, its chairman Nand Lal Sharma said on Wednesday.

The previous record for maximum power generation in a single day was 604.24 lakh units, achieved in August 2008, Sharma said in a statement here.

BBMB further said that during torrential rains in the region from July 8 till July 1, it successfully absorbed the entire flood water that originated in the rivers Sutlej and Beas in its Bhakra and Pong dams, respectively.

In Bhakra dam, an astounding 4,45,037 cusec days (1,088 million cubic metres) of water was absorbed and in Pong dam about 6,25,554 cusec days (1,530 million cubic metres) of water was absorbed in just four days, said BBMB, which manages water resources of Sutlej and Beas rivers.

During the current month up till July 24, BBMB received a staggering 3,590 million cubic metres of water in the Pong dam against a long-term average inflow of 1,610 million cubic metres during this period.

Similarly, in Bhakra, 3,920 million cubic metres of water was received till July 24 compared to the long-term average of 2,940 million cubic metres for the said period.

BBMB was able to successfully absorb this water in its dams thereby significantly reducing the fury of floods in Punjab and Haryana, it said.

Now, when the flood waters in the downstream areas have receded, BBMB has started to control the discharge of water from its dams, leading to record production of electricity, it said.

With PTI inputs