The construction work of an additional spillway at the Hirakud Dam in Sambalpur district has already started at the Hirakud side of the dam by the Tata Group.
The State Government has decided to construct five additional spillways with an estimated cost of Rs 369.53 crore to ensure safety of the dam, constructed on the Mahanadi river.
Technical experts from the Tata Group have already camping on the side to supervise the ground work.
Hirakud dam Chief Engineer Jyotirmaya Rath presented a report on the process of the spillway work at a meeting held under the chairmanshkip of Irrigation Secretary Pradeep Jena at Bhubaneswar on January 9. The work is expected to be completed within three years. It was revealed that the Government has created a separate spillway division headed by Executive Engineer Himanshu Mishra for the new project.
The proposed 91-meter-long spillway will be built on the dam’s left dyke and its water would reach the Mahanadi via Gujatala village. The project has been taken up for the dam’s safety according to the recommendations of the Central Water Commission (CWC) with the help of World Bank. The spillway, when completed, would have capacity to discharge an additional seven lakh cusecs of water. The dam’s present capacity is 15 lakh cusecs and the water is released through 64 sluice gates and 34 crest gates, official sources said.
The forest clearance for the first stage has been cleared by the Environment Ministry, Mishra told The Pioneer, adding that the Forest Department would cut the trees required for the project.
