The level in the Tehri dam in Uttarakhand on Sunday reached 818.50 metres against the permissible mark of 825 metres, Tehri District Magistrate Nitesh Kumar Jha told The Hindu.
According to Northern Regional Load Despatch Centre (NRLDC) data, the level rose by 8 metres since August 1.
Mr. Jha said that for the past three to four days the inflow was around 950 cumecs (cubic metre per second) a day and around 1100 cumecs was being released daily.
According to a forecast of the Central Water Commission, on Sunday the level of the Ganga near Haridwar reached 293.08 metres. The danger level is 294 metres.
While the Tehri dam administration sees this as no danger, many have raised questions about the storage and release of water from the dam.
According to the NRLDC data, between June 15 and 18 when rivers in the State rose owing to heavy rain, the level in the dam increased by about 29 metres and reached 776.8 metres on June 18.
“It was because of the Tehri dam that the downstream areas were saved from the probable mid-June flash floods,” Mr. Jha said.
However, Vimal Bhai, a member of Matu Jan Sangathan that works on dam related issues, said: “The Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) authorities claim to have saved the areas downstream of the dam from probable flash floods in June; what about the present situation? Now that the reservoir is almost about to reach its permissible limit of 825 metres, will the dam not become a cause of floods in downstream areas like Haridwar and Rishikesh?”
Himanshu Thakkar of South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers & People (SANDRP), said, “looking at the data trend in the past month, it seems as though the THDC is preparing to repeat the disaster the Tehri dam created in 2010.”
Till August 2010, the permissible Full Reservoir Limit (FRL) was 820 metres. This limit was reached on August 27, 2010.
