Ekta Nagar (Gujarat), Jul 31 (PTI) Five out of the total 30 gates of the Sardar Sarovar Dam at Ekta Nagar in Gujarat have been opened to maintain the level of water after a huge inflow from the upstream region, officials said.
This is for the first time that the gates of the Sardar Sarovar Dam were opened in this monsoon season.
In an official statement, the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Ltd (SSNNL) said five out of the total 30 gates of the dam were opened up to a height of two meters at 11 am on Thursday after the dam’s water level increased by 2.71 centimetres in 24 hours.
The inflow of water is mainly due to the rainfall in the upstream catchment area in the Narmada basin and the release of water from Omkareshwar dam in neighbouring Madhya Pradesh, it said.
At present, the dam, situated near the Statue of Unity in Narmada district, is receiving a 4.22 lakh cusec (cubic feet per second) water while nearly 85,000 cusecs of water is being released into the river by opening five gates, the release said.
Moreover, nearly 4,100 cusecs of water is also being released in the Narmada canal, it added.
The reservoir’s water storage level touched the height of 131 meters by noon, nearly 8 metres short of its full reservoir level of 138.68 metres.
As against its total water storage capacity of 9,460 million cubic metres, the dam is currently holding 7,151.67 MCM (million cubic metres) of water or 75 per cent of its capacity, the release said.
In view of the discharge of water, the SSNNL has also issued an ‘alert’ for the villages situated downstream as Narmada may flow up to banks due to the release of water. PTI COR PJT NP
This report is auto-generated from PTI news service. ThePrint holds no responsibility for its content.