Work on second spillway in Hirakud dam to begin from Oct

Hirakud: Work on the proposed second spillway in Hirakud dam will begin from October and be completed in nine months, Water Resources Secretary Pradeep Jena said here today.

Talking to media persons after a meeting with dam officials, including Hirakud Chief Engineer, here, Jena said, “The required talks were held today. A new technology will be used to build the second spillway so that no one’s house is damaged.”

During his visit to Sambalpur, the Water Resources Secretary also reviewed the progress of the work on the drainage system at Binakandi for release of excess rain water in the city.

The construction of the spillways, being constructed on both sides of the dam, is being funded by the World Bank. According to sources, while one spillway is targeted to discharge 3 lakh cusecs of water per second, the other has a targeted discharge of 4 lakh cusecs of water.

The dam authorities planned to construct more spillways taking note of the massive siltation and other related issues in the reservoir where cracks have appeared due to lack of proper maintenance.

While the dam earlier had provision of gross discharge of 15 lakh cusecs of water, provision for release of 24 lakh cusecs of water has been planned considering the present situation and future of the dam