Sukhna Lake water level crosses danger mark, 2 floodgates opened

Following torrential rainfall in the city and the catchment area, two of the three floodgates of the Sukhna Lake were today opened after its water level crossed the danger mark of 1,163 feet.

According to officials, one floodgate was opened around 3.30 pm and another around 3.45 pm upto the height of three and six inches, respectively. It is the first time when two floodgates have been opened this monsoon season. Earlier, a single floodgate was opened on August 6, 8, 15 and 17. The floodgate was opened to release the excess water of the lake into Ghaggar river through the Sukhna Choe.

One of the gates was closed around 8 pm when the water level dipped to 1,162.85 ft.

With opening of the second floodgate, the gush of water overflowed the Bapu Dham Colony and Shashtri Nagar bridge over the Sukhna Choe. The overflowing of the water disrupted vehicular movement over the bridge.

Tthe UT Engineering Department has decided to soon replace the existing low-level causeway over Sukhna Choe near Bapu Dham Colony with a four-lane bridge.

The new bridge will help prevent disruption in traffic movement like that witnessed in July 2023 when excess water released from the Sukhna Lake damaged the bridge, which serves as an alternative route from Manimajra and Panchkula. The bridge had remained closed for five days.

The UT Engineering Department has deployed officials at the regulator end of the lake on a 24x7 basis and CCTV cameras have also been installed to regularly monitor the water level of the lake. A control room has also been established to coordinate with the district administration of Chandigarh, Mohali and Panchkula for a proper communication during the opening of floodgates.

The officials said that the district administrations of the neighbouring districts were alerted before opening the floodgate. The department had opened the floodgates to check their working condition on June 28.

Floodgates were opened four times in 2023, six times in 2022, and five times in 2021. Opening of two floodgates in August 2020 caused a widespread flooding in the low-lying areas of Zirakpur situated alongside the Sukhna Choe. On September 24, 2018, the floodgates were opened after a gap of 10 years.