BHUBANESWAR: There is no threat to the structure of Hirakud dam, the reservoir’s chief engineer and Mahanadi basin manager Anand Chandra Sahu said, responding to concerns about the delay in conducting a survey to locate new cracks and make an assessment about cracks detected earlier.
“There is no threat… The department undertakes inspection at frequent intervals. The dam maintenance is a regular process, which is being ensured,” Sahu said after a letter written to him by the Sibasish Padhi, chief engineer, dam safety was leaked.
In the August 16 letter, Sibasish Padhi said the Hirakud dam across Mahandi river in Odisha’s Sambalpur district, has not been surveyed for new cracks and an assessment of its older cracks on its downstream face since 1999.
Padhi’s letter said a survey was supposed to be taken up at least once in every five years. HT has reviewed the communication.
“The Dam Safety Review Panel (DSRP) had visited the dam in 2020 and recommended further study of the cracks at operation gallery, foundation gallery, gate shaft and sluice barrels of both left and right spillway of the dam. As per the suggestions in their inspection report, a fresh survey mapping of the new cracks was necessary to be made along with the status of the old cracks. But no such survey has been done since 1999,” the letter said.
The DSRP team had suggested a drone-based inspection of the downstream face to find cracks on downstream glacis of the spillway. Among others, it sugegsted that cracks on the downstream face of the dam should be mapped and a comprehensive assessment be made.
{{/usCountry}}The DSRP team had suggested a drone-based inspection of the downstream face to find cracks on downstream glacis of the spillway. Among others, it sugegsted that cracks on the downstream face of the dam should be mapped and a comprehensive assessment be made.
{{/usCountry}}The dam, operational since 1957, measures 25.8 km from end-to-end, including dykes, which fill low points between the adjacent hills. The main dam has an overall length of 4.8 km and is a combination of concrete gravity, masonry and zoned earth fill sections. The Hirakud reservoir created by the dam is enormous, impounding nearly 6,000 Mm3 at the full-supply level.
.