A joint meeting of the Water Resources Departments of the Odisha and Chhattisgarh Governments will be held soon at Raipur to chalk out an action plan for water management for the Hirakud reservoir during the monsoon.
Since a major portion of the catchment area for the Hirakud Dam exists in Chhattisgarh, such a meeting is needed to avert unwanted flood situation during the whole of the rainy season, informed Chief Engineer of Hirakud Dam project Biswajit Mohanty. This joint meeting is held regularly before onset of the monsoon, he said. Mohanty said the joint meeting was to be held in the middle of June, but due to some problem on the part of the Chhattisgarh Government, the meeting would be held in the third week of July. However, it is not late as rains in Chhattisgarh and particularly in the Hirakud Dam catchment area are yet to gather momentum, he added.
It may be mentioned that the Chhattisgarh Government has constructed a number of mini dams and barrages in the upper catchment area of the Hirakud Dam. Due to unbalanced and indiscriminate release of water from these mini dams and barrages without prior information and consultation with the Hirakud Dam authorities, the latter are put to unwarranted troubles. Even, threats of flood-like situations are created for this reason.
To avoid such situation, a joint meeting is required for Odisha and Chhattisgarh so that both can have control over the rainwater and, thereby, over floods, Mohanty said.
That Chhattisgarh should give prior information as to release of water from its barrages and dams would be the main agenda of the joint meeting, Mohanty said.