Burla: The underwater survey of the Hirakud dam, which had begun on December 7 by a three-member expert team of the Central Soil and Material Research Station (CSMRS) under the Union Water Resources ministry to determine the present status of the dam, concluded at Burla in Odisha’s Sambalpur district on Saturday.
During the 20-day survey, the team, led by Dr Alex Varghese, head of the department of Engineering Geophysics, completed underwater survey of 70 sluice gates on the left side of the dam by December 19. The team later began the survey work of the remaining 24 sluice gates on the right spillway of the dam on December 21 and completed the work with the survey of two gates on Saturday.
The scanning was done by a remote operated vehicle (ROV) with a state-of-the-art underwater camera, which receives instructions from the control room inside a vehicle placed on the top of the dam and changes its direction in the water and takes underwater photos of upstream face of the dam including the sluice barrel. The present condition of the dam and the portion of it that has been weakened or affected can be known hrough the photos taken by the RVO.
Talking to the media, executive engineer of Hirakud Dam, Jasobant Parida said the team had conducted underwater scanning of the dam’s upstream face to assess the status of the dam.
He said the team will conduct another round of underwater ROV survey of the power dam portion.
“After completing the survey work, the team will scan the photos and finally submit its report to the state Water Resources department,” he added.
Parida also informed that the team, during its survey, has not found any major crack or hole in the dam.
“Besides, the team also found some affected portions of the dam, repaired between 1996 and 1999, have remained intact,” he said.
It may be mentioned that prior to this survey by the Central team, another survey was done under the Dam Rehabilitation Scheme (DRS) in 1990 by a team of expert divers.