As the Damodar river has shown reduced flow in its lower valley areas, some rivulets like Khori, Kunur have caused devastation as an impact of downpour in some parts of East Burdwan, mainly in the blocks like Monteswar, Purbasthali, Memari since yesterday evening.
At Karuri village within Boro Polason Panchayat in Memari-II, a temporary wooden bridge was washed away by an inflated Khori. The bridge was the lone resort of the residents to cross the river. The wooden bridge was placed a few days ago after the old concrete bridge on the site was knocked down by Khori waters.
Residents like Bikash Hazra, Uday Hazra are busy in laying another bridge, using bamboo logs. They said, “The residents of six other villages like Bijur, Paharhati also use the same bridge.” State minister Siddiqullah Chowdhury had visited the village after the collapse of the bridge the other day.
The Damodar Valley Corporation operated upstream reservoirs, Maithon and Panchet, have reduced combined discharge from 65,000 cusecs to 58,000 cusecs at 6pm today, said Nag Sudha Kumari, superintendent, Hydrology, DVC. “As no significant rainfall was recorded in the last 24 hours and dam levels also could be reduced at the desired level, we didn’t need to increase discharge anymore,” the official said.