Nabanna virtual meet with barrage officials as DVC scales up discharge
The Statesman | 22 October 2024
Forecasts for heavy rain due to cyclone Dana have prompted the upper dams of the Damodar Valley to scale up discharge after the Monday midnight hours, the senior hydrology officials stated today.
Considering the feeds from the river authorities, Nabanna, the state headquarters held an emergency meeting with the irrigation officials as well.
The Damodar Valley River Regulation Committee already has issued a ‘yellow alert’ for the Damodar downstream districts, which may be elevated to ‘orange’ on Tuesday, the officials hinted. The DVRRC was prescribed to enhance the combined discharge from the Maithon and Panchet dams to 60,000 cusecs after the midnight hours.
In the Monday evening hours, the discharge was maintained at 48,000 cusecs.
“We’ve taken this bid as a precautionary measure to create additional dam storage for the anticipated heavy rains,” said Shashi Rakesh, member secretary, DVRRC this afternoon. He said that the advisory is transmitted to the Bengal government officials accordingly.
The state government blamed DVC for ‘devastating’ release without prior intimation and causing a ‘man-made’ flood in the lower Damodar basin in the first week of September.