Sambalpur: Chhattisgarh reportedly closed some gates of Kalma barrage in Chapa district to hold back Mahanadi water at the upper catchment area even as a case over sharing of Mahanadi river water is sub-judice in the Supreme Court.
Exercising its rights over Mahanadi water, the neighbouring state closed the gates resulting in release of less water into the Hirakud reservoir.
This has put the prospect of rabi crops and power generation under threat, according to a report. Besides, it will also affect Mahanadi barrage storage-2 at Munduli, according to experts. Farming across 76,513 hectares would be affected leading to drought in Sambalpur, Bargarh, Subarnapur and Bolangir districts, they said.
Though the state government has moved the apex court, the case would take a long time to be heard. In such a scenario, the stoppage of water by Chhattisgarh can trigger a massive farmers’ unrest in western Orissa–the ‘rice bowl’ of the state, sources said.
Hirakud dam receives 24 million-acre-ft (AFT) water from Mahanadi in rainy season (June-October). With its water holding capacity of 630 feet, the dam stores only 3.91 million AFT water and releases nearly 20 million AFT for various purposes. The dam receives 1.2 million AFT between November and May.
On the other hand, Burla power house requires 1.9 million AFT to generate electricity from November to May. Another 1.3 million AFT is supplied to four western Orissa districts for agriculture.
This apart, several industries including Vedanta, Aditya Aluminium, Sterlite, Shyam DRI, Bhusan, Aryan Steel, MCL and IB Thermal Power Station depend on the reservoir for water.
Statistics have it that Burla power house generated 747.5 million unit (MU) of electricity in 1960- 61. It went up to 1023.94 MU in 2012-13. Since then, power production is on the wane. While the power house generated 1014.03 MU in 2013-14, it came down to 820.08 MU in 2014-15 and 654 MU in 2015-16. In the current fiscal, the power house has registered only 524.23 MU of electricity as on Saturday.
Power generation has been on decline over the years if the figures of last four years are taken into consideration.
Data on inflow of water reveal that Hirakud dam received 13, 240 MU of water instead of 24,910 MU during 2015-16. The dam received less 11,670 MU of water during this fiscal. Power generation would stop if Chhattisgarh stops Mahanadi water, experts feared.
When contacted, chief engineer of Hirakud dam Harman Pradhan said a case has been filed in the Supreme Court over the issue.
While the level of water in the dam was 627.71 ft Saturday, stoppage of water on upstream would severely hit farming, Pradhan added. He, however, refused to divulge details of the volume of water held by the neighbouring state. PNN
