Spillway work of Hirakud dam to begin from Oct 24

Sambalpur: The additional spillway work at the left dyke of Hirakud Dam on the Mahanadi River will begin from October 24, an official source said.

The project will be jointly carried out by Tata Projects limited and AGE Group of Turkey.

Source close to the development said that the experts from IITs and outside country have reviewed the condition of Hirakud dam.

The Hirakud dam authorities had earlier proposed for 15 drills. However, the experts have proposed for making another 15 drills.

The geological survey work has also been completed. While the officials of both the companies are staying inside camps on premises of the dam, the officials from other countries are also monitoring the project, informed Hirakud dam chief engineer Jyotirmaya Rath on Sunday.

Notably, the additional spillway is a World Bank funded project. It has been proposed to enhance the flood water discharge capacity of the Hirakud dam.

The length of the spillway will be 91 metre with five sluice gates and the width of the spillway channel will be 300 metre.

The proposed spillway channel will originate from near the Gandhi Minar on the left dyke of Hirakud Dam reservoir and meet the river Mahanadi near the Jawahar Uddyan. The estimated budget of the project is Rs 369.53 crore.

Currently, there are 98 gates to release around 15 lakh cusec flood water from the Hirakud dam, out of which, 64 are sluice gates and 34 are crest gates.

With the construction of the proposed additional spillway, the water discharge capacity of the Hirakud Dam will increase to 18 lakh cusec.