Dams and flood management: A double-edged sword in south Bengal’s annual flood crisis
As the world focuses on the United Nations’ upcoming Conference of Parties (COP 29) which begins tomorrow, The Statesman looks at environmental issues closer home.
Amidst chief minister’s fresh charge of unleashing ‘manmade’ flood in the state against the Centre’s river regulatory statutory bodies today, the colossal volume of rainwater arrested by the ‘monstrous’ seven upper-dams increased as much as 6.5 times in past 24 hours however has hinted about severe limitation of the “over silted” reservoirs to hold water in critical times.
The upper-dams of harshly penetrating South Bengal rivers like Ajoy, the Damodar, Mayurakshi, Subarnarekha, Kansavati arrested 8.19 lakh acre-feet of water in past 24 hours compared to 2.08 lakh acre-feet in previous 24 hours-a whopping increase by 294 per cent despite of critical storage capacity constraints.
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The precipitation in the upper-dam catchment areas, according to the statistics prepared by the Rain Gauge Stations in different districts reflect, has incidentally increased by 2.5 times during the hours. The reservoirs, altogether discharged 3.47 lakh acrefeet during the time, which was 1.36 lakh acre-feet yesterday, the Damodar Valley Corporation officials said.
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The Panchet reservoir of the Damodar received the highest inflow of 3,23,757 acre-feet of water since Thursday afternoon seconded by 2,71,913 lakh acre-feet received by the Maithon reservoir.
The Ajoy’s Sikatia Barrage in Jharkhand though decreased discharge to 70,000 cusecs compared to yesterday’s 1.40 lakh cusecs its present water level was recorded at 547.43 feet today and that of the Durgapur Barrage was recorded at optimum capacity of 211.50 feet and the level at Tilpara Barrage on the Mayurakshi was at 202.60 feet against optimal capacity of 206 feet.
“The central bodies like the DVC don’t bother to maintain a cohesive coordination with the state and release water without giving a proper intimation,” said Dr Manas Bhuniya, irrigation minister talking to The Statesman.
He said: “Only de-siltation of the upper-dams can lead to augmentation of storage capacity and a permanent solution to the menace, which is Centre’s responsibility.”
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