CHANDIGARH:  The heavy rainfall in  catchments areas of Bhakra Dam and Ranjit Sagar Dam Project which  has resulted in increase in water level of reservoirs which  calls for immediate increase in generation by BBMB and RSD project  to avoid spillage of water later.
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Padamjit Singh a retired Chief Engineer of PSEB said that now there is urgent need to increase generation from Bhakra project to avoid spillage at a later date in view of increased inflows and alarming rise in water level. The generation should be increased now even though the requirement of water for irrigation purposes may be less. BBMB is not running all the units to full capacity these days.

According to BBMB sources due to less demand from irrigation sector the water release from the BML canals has been restricted to 14000 cusecs against capacity of 23000 cusecs. RSD project authorities are merely releasing 3027 cusecs in canals for irrigation purposes.

The inflow in Bhakra reservoir was 76000 cusecs where as inflow in Pong reservoir was 82000 cusecs .The inflow in Ranjit Sagar Dam is 29450 cusecs. In a dependable year average daily inflow in Bhakra reservoir is between 45000 to 55000 cusecs.
According to sources the water level in  Gobind Sagar Dam of Bhakra power house is 1665 feet against last years level of 1594 feet. The water level in Pong reservoir is 1370 feet against last year’s level of 1332 feet.

A senior official of RSD informed that water level in Ranjit Sagar Dam stood at 519.38 meters against last years level of 512 metres. The water can be stored at RSD reservoir is up to 525 meters.

The present generation from Bhakra and Pong power houses is 249 lakh units and 56 lakh units respectively while it is 20.62 lakhs at Ranjit Sagar Dam power house.Even if one assumes average inflow of water in coming three weeks the higher generation from hydro projects is a must to fully utilize the surplus water availability . said Padamjit Singh.

The water releases from Bhakra are maintained in such a way that the reservoir reaches its peak at the end of filling season which ends on September 20.To attain a water level of 1681 feet on September 10 the water releases from Bhakra are  restricted to  32000 cusecs for n a dependable year and 38000 cusecs for  a mean year. Similarly the water releases from Pong Dam are 8000 cusecs and 20000 cusecs are for a dependable and mean year to attain a level of 1390 feet on September 20 i.e. at the end of filling season. For Ranjit Sagar dam Project these figures are 8000 cusecs and 12000 cusecs to achieve level of 525 meters.