No violation of Rule Curve in Hirakud reservoir, says govt

Contrary to the allegations hurled by the Opposition political parties on mismanagement of the Hirakud reservoir system, the state government has clarified in its report that there has been no violation of the Rule Curve and water levels in the reservoir were kept as per the prescribed norm.

The state water resources department has submitted the report to the Orissa Governor M C Bhandare who had sought details about management of Hirakud reservoir system during August and September this year.

“We have already submitted the report to the Governor. In our report, we have clarified that there has been no violation of the Rule Curve. Besides, the water level in the Hirakud reservoir as on September 5 was 78 per cent as against the prescribed range of 65-91 per cent. After the flood of 2008, an expert committee was constituted under the chairmanship of the Engineer-in-Chief (irrigation) with two experts as members. The committee has given some technical suggestions on flood control measures and long-term strategy to deal with floods”, said Suresh C Mohapatra, principal secretary (water resources).

B K Patnaik, the state Chief Secretary said, “The state water resources department has submitted the report on the Hirakud reservoir system to the Governor. The report contains all the details on water management at Hirakud.”

The Governor had suggested constitution of a probe panel headed by a former Central Water Commission (CWC) member to investigate into the matter.

The Opposition Congress had recently requested the Governor to intervene in the matter, alleging that the state government was reluctant to order a probe into the dam management. Bijay Mohapatra, senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader, had also raised questions about the regulation of water level at Hirakud dam.