SAMBALPUR: Chhattisgarh has not granted a no-objection certificate (NOC) to Odisha for installation of a modern discharge monitoring system at the strategically vital Saradihi gauge station despite the recent thaw in ties between the two states over the Mahanadi river.
Documents accessed by The New Indian Express reveal that the office of the Chief Engineer and Basin Manager, Mahanadi Basin, Burla, has written multiple letters to Chhattisgarh’s Water Resources department citing the urgency of the matter. However, the requests have remained unanswered.
In a letter dated June 18, then Chief Engineer Babulal Behera requested the Engineer-in-Chief of Chhattisgarh’s Water Resources Department to issue an NOC for installation of a non-contact discharge measurement system at the Saradihi barrage. The communication referred to an earlier letter sent on March 26, noting that the required clearance was “still awaited”.
The letter described Saradihi as “a most critical location for inflow forecasting and reservoir operation”. It explained that the existing gauge station of the Hirakud Dam Project now falls within the ponded area of the Saradihi barrage, rendering the conventional stage-discharge relationship ineffective for accurate flow measurement.
According to the letter, the proposed system would enable real-time discharge monitoring, significantly improve flood forecasting and support integrated reservoir management. Odisha also assured Chhattisgarh that all real-time data generated by the system would be shared with it.
The proposed installation, estimated to cost Rs 67.52 lakh, is intended to restore accurate inflow assessment after the existing gauge station became ineffective following construction of the barrage.
In another letter dated June 30, incumbent Chief Engineer Pratap Chandra Choudhary wrote to the Chief Engineers of the Hasdeo Basin, Minimata Bango Project and Mahanadi Reservoir Project in Chhattisgarh, seeking three-hourly water level and discharge data from key barrages, including Kalma, Saradihi, Basantpur, Mirouni, Seorinarayan and Samoda, to improve flood forecasting and reservoir management.
The communication noted that the gauge stations at Saradihi and Seorinarayan no longer provide reliable discharge data after construction of barrages. Odisha proposed reciprocal sharing of Hirakud reservoir’s three-hourly water level, inflow and outflow data and suggested creating a secure online spreadsheet or even a joint social media group for real-time data exchange during the 2026 monsoon.
Official sources said Hirakud reservoir operations depend on inputs from eight gauge stations, six of them located in Chhattisgarh-Ghorari and Seorinarayan on the Mahanadi, Nandghat on the Seonath, Saradihi on the Mahanadi, Champa on the Hasdeo and Tarapur on the Mand river.
Among these, Saradihi is considered the most critical because floodwaters from the site take only about 12 hours to reach Hirakud, making it the last major upstream window for forecasting inflows and planning reservoir releases.
Despite repeated requests from Odisha, the NOC for the modern discharge measurement system is yet to be issued.