Bhubaneswar: The authorities of Hirakud dam in Odisha’s Sambalpur opened two more sluice gates on Saturday to discharge excess water from the reservoir.
With this a total of 24 sluice gates have now been opened by the Hirakud dam authorities as the water level in the reservoir went up significantly following heavy rain in the upper catchment areas of Mahanadi river.
While 16 sluice gates have been opened on the left side, water is being released through eight gates on the right side of the dam, sources said
Earlier, a total of 16 sluice gates of the dam were opened in two phases on Friday. While ten gates were opened in the morning, the dam authorities opened six more sluice gates later in the day to manage the water level in the reservoir.
Six sluice gates had initially been opened on Thursday, a day after the authorities closed all gates of the reservoir.
However, gates were opened again as the water level of the reservoir went up due to heavy rains in the upper catchment areas of Mahanadi river overnight