ROURKELA: Authorities of Rukura Medium Irrigation Project (RMIP) in Bonai sub-division have sought help of their Hirakud Dam counterparts to stop the huge water leak which continues from the emergency gate of the reservoir for some technical glitch.
A huge amount of dam water is leaking from the emergency gate for the last couple of days. The water level is gradually decreasing, which if not stopped immediately, will affect the irrigation potential in Rabi crop season.
RMIP Executive Engineer Biswajit Panigrahi said the leakage has increased over the last couple of days. However, the leakage will be fixed by Saturday with technical assistance from Hirakud dam authorities. “The leakage has not been caused due to damage or crevice in the emergency gate but due to some fault in the shutter. The technical team from Hirakud will fix the problem by Saturday afternoon,” he said.
Incidentally, after a delayed start, the monsoon continued beyond the month of September this year. Following the low-pressure induced heavy rains in October, the dam’s water level reached the maximum reserve level (RL).
Panigrahi said the dam’s water level stands at at 185.4 metre against the RL of 186 metre. He also allayed the farmers’ fear that they might not get irrigation water during Rabi cropping due to the leakage.
In July 2018, Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik had inaugurated the much-delayed RMIP which was built at a cost of `297 crore. The earth dam reservoir over 4,394 hectare (ha) is located in Musaposh village of Gurundia block. The project is designed to irrigate 5,463 ha in Kharif and 2,185 ha in Rabi crop season in 74 villages of Gurundia and Bonai blocks through its 10.87 km main canal and 110 km sub-canal system.
Bonai Krushak Sangh president Dambrudhar Kishan claimed that the leakage is continuing for nearly a month and in the last couple of days, the severity of the leak has increased. Farmers coming under the dam’s coverage areas have not yet started Rabi cultivation and need irrigation water for later use. If the fault is not rectified urgently, farmers would not get water when needed, he added.
