Plan to release water from Pong dam deferred

Kuldeep Chauhan 

Tribune News Service 

Shimla, September 25

The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has deferred its plan to release excess water from the Pong dam on the Beas river in Kangra district, providing relief to residents of low-lying areas of the state and neighbouring Punjab. 

However, the water level in the 396 MW dam on Tuesday hit an all-time high level at 1388.32 feet, about 5.26 ft more than its maximum level. On Monday, it was 1,385.77 feet. “The level is still 2 feet below the danger mark of 1,390 feet. We can wait as the Pong dam has the largest surface area of 240 sq km and it can hold more water,” said BBBM managers. 

On the other hand, four power projects — 990-MW Dehar power house, 126-MW Larji on the Beas river and Chamera-II and Chamera-III on the Ravi river in Chamba are shut for the last 48 hours due to high silt level.

The CMD, BBMB, DK Sharma, said, “We are reviewing the dam level round the clock.  However, we did not release water on Tuesday.” 

He said the water levels in the Bhakra dam and Rajit Sagar was yet to reach the satisfactory level. The Bhakhra dam might touch 1,692 ft by the end of the season, which was less than normal. “We hope power and irrigation situation will be normal in the lean winter and summer months,” he said.  

According to information, the water level of the 1,325 MW   Bhakhra increased to 1,659 ft on Tuesday while it was 1,656 ft  at 5 pm on Monday. 

In Ranjit Sagar situated on the Ravi near Thein village, the water level increased to 526.65 m from 524.9 m on Monday. Its highest level was 540 m, said sources. 

The BBMB has flushed out silt from the Pandoh weir  on the Beas river in Mandi   to avoid damage to the Beas-Satluj link tunnel that takes Beas water to the Dehar power house. ‘The silt level in the Beas was 45,000 particle per minute(PPM) on Monday. It remained 3,000 PPM on Tuesday, still higher to run the power house. We are hopeful of resuming generation by Wednesday evening,” said sources.