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

Earlier this morning, the dam authorities had closed eight gates of the reservoir. At noon, two gates were open and the water level of the reservoir stood at 628.02 ft against its water holding capacity of 630 ft.

Engineer -in- Chief of the State Water Resources Department Bhakta Ranjan Mohanty said there was no flood threat for now with 3.70 lakh cusec water flowing through Mundali. “There is a forecast for rain in the upstream and downstream of the Mahandi tomorrow and we are keeping a close watch on the situation,” he added.

It was also decided to distribute land pattas (Records of Right) to people in Jharsuguda, who were earlier displaced for the construction of multi-purpose Hirakud Dam project

It is worth noting that during his tour of districts, 5T Secretary V K Pandian received several land-related complaints from the people.

People had apprised the 5T Secretary about the long-standing problem of Hirakud Dam displaced persons, land right issues of people residing on government land for a long period of time, ryot issues and several other similar issues.

After 5T Secretary apprised the Chief Minister of these issues, the decision was taken at a meeting held on the direction of the Chief Minister.

Development Commissioner Anu Garg, Additional Chief Secretary Revenue Department Satyabrat Sahu, 5T Secretary VK Pandian, Collectors of Ganjam and Jharsuguda and other senior officers were present in the meeting.

It was decided at the meeting to allot pattas to the people after permanent resolution of land-related issues.

The problem of Hirakud Dam displaced persons in Jharsuguda district is of over 50 years. It was decided to resolve the land-related issues of 19 villages which include 18 villages of Lakhanpur tehsil and one village of Jharsuguda tehsil.

A total of 1749 families will be given rights over about 3231 acres of land.

Distribution of pattas will start in the 5 villages – Limeithikra, Sahasbag, Chitlachipalli, Patrapalli and Duanmunda – in December.

5T Secretary visited Ganjam district on August 26. After listening to the problems of the people there, the land issue was resolved in just 5 days.

According to the decision of the meeting, 883 people of 17 villages of Sorada block of Ganjam district will be allotted pattas of homesteads and patta distribution process will be completed by September 22, 2023.

Similarly, 168 people will be given pattas for farmlands and the process will start from October.

The Chief Minister has directed various departments and District Collectors to take timely steps to resolve the various grievances of the people. He will review its progress in mid-September this year

As per reports, the gates will be opened at 9am on July 23 amid a rise in reservoir water level following recent rains in upper catchment areas of the Mahanadi River in Chhattisgarh.

While the dam has the capacity to hold water up to the danger mark of 630 feet, the water level in the reservoir is currently at 611.52 feet. At the same time, the inflow to the dam has been measured at 1.4 lakh cusecs while the current outflow has been registered as 40,000 cusecs.

However, due to the continuous inflow of water into the reservoir, the water level is on the rise forcing to dam authorities to open the gates in three days of time.

Once the gates of Hirakud open, not only the Mahanadi but the water level of other distributaries of Mahanadi will rise too.

The dam authorities have warned the people downstream about the scheduled opening of the gates.