The water level in Hirakud reservoir was just below the maximum point of 630 feet on Thursday. Current rains in the upper catchment area in Chhattisgarh due to low pressure in Bay of Bengal worried the dam authorities here as under the present situation with maximum water level (MWL) in hand they have no option than to make the inflow equal to outflow.“But we are relieved a lot as the inflow from Chhattisgarh has reduced drastically due to less rainfall there. The inflow was 2.5 lakh on Tuesday. We have no difficulty at present to handle with the situation with the decreased inflow,” said dam’s Superintend Engineer Bhakta Ranjan Mohanty. He said that the Kalma barrage also didn’t discharge more water during this peak hour.
He said water level would be reduced further if rains occur due to a low pressure expected on September 25. “There is nothing to be panicked now as we as a team are doing our best to handle the situation and we are more watchful towards September last and October first week,” Mohanty said.
