CSMRS expert team to visit Hirakud dam soon: Minister

The experts of the Central agency are expected to come on a visit to the dam soon.
Hirakud dam (File photo| EPS)
Hirakud dam (File photo| EPS)

BHUBANESWAR: A Team of experts from the Central Soil and Materials Research Station (CSMRS), New Delhi will soon visit Hirakud dam to study damages caused to different components of the dam and underwater survey of cracks and cavities.

In a written reply to a question by MLA Soumya Ranjan Patnaik, Minister for Water Resources Tukuni Sahu informed the Assembly that CSMRS and Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS) have been approached for the study using the latest technologies.

“The relevant information on the reservoir and its present status sought by New Delhi-based CSMRS has been sent on January 24. The experts of the Central agency are expected to come on a visit to the dam soon. The government will take appropriate action in consultation with the dam safety review panel as per the study outcome,” she said.

The minister, however, made it clear that there is no threat to the dam and it is fully safe. She maintained that required repairs have been done as per the recommendations of studies conducted earlier.

“An underwater study of both left and right spillways was conducted by CSMRS through a remote operated vehicle in 2015-16 and accordingly repair works completed under phase I of the Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP),” she added.      

However, no detailed study has been conducted since 2020 when a team of dam safety review panel had visited the dam and noticed cracks in its operation gallery, foundation gallery, gate shaft and sluice barrels of both left and right spillways.

After the visit in January, 2020, the panel besides recommending a drone based inspection of the downstream face to find out cracks, had suggested to repair the erosion on downstream glacis of the left channel spillway and attend the cracks in right channel spillway to prevent further aggravation.  

They had also suggested systematic mapping and plotting of cracks on various surfaces of the dam on a regular interval. Even two years after the panel flagged cracks in different structures of Hirakud, the detailed study is yet to be conducted, let alone the restoration part.

Built across Mahanadi river, about 15 km from Sambalpur for controlling floods, Hirakud dam is the longest earthen dam in the world. It is one of the first major multipurpose river valley projects started after India’s Independence.

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