The mighty Mahanadi has surprised the State Government.
The surprise came on Tuesday when the Department of Water Resources found the rise of the river’s water level at an alarming rate. Barely some hours ago, Special Relief Commissioner (SRC) Pradipta Kumar Mohapatra had boasted that the Government can avoid a major flood in the Mahanadi system, but immediately after the Chief Minister’s review he said the Government was expecting high floods in the State’s biggest river.
Suresh Chandra Mohapatra, longest-serving Principal Secretary, Water Resources, also had said that the State could avoid a major flood this time.
However, the Mohapatra duo surprised all when they revealed that above 12 lakh cusecs of water was likely to flow through the Mundali barrage near Cuttack during daytime on Wednesday. Earlier however, the two Mohapatras had claimed that a maximum of 10 lakh cusecs of water was likely pass through Mundali.
In fact, heavy downpours in the upper catchment of the Mahanadi in Chhattisgarh area had changed the situation.