5 day effort stops dam discharge
Nagpur: The State Irrigation Department said it has stopped water discharge from the partially breached Bodalkasa Dam, a medium project in Gondia , and the reservoir is now left with 50% water storage. When the left canal outlet of the 109-year-old project in Tirora taluka breached, officials had said the reservoir was about 95% full. Now, 7.852 million cubic metres of live storage remains, they said.
Authorities said the discharge was controlled properly, and villages downstream and standing crops have suffered no loss. Kharif irrigation through the main outlet of the left canal is continuing smoothly, they said. Once the design and other work are complete, the department will take up rebuilding of the breached portion of the embankment and the spillway, the authorities said. Executive engineer Rajiv Kurekar, deputy executive engineer Sanjeev Sahare, sub-divisional engineer Chandrakant Dongre and junior engineer Abhishek Yadav worked with department staff on a war footing until the flow was stopped, said officials.
Tirora MLA Vijay Rahangdale, collector Mandar Patki, Vidarbha Irrigation Development Corporation executive director JD Tale, chief engineer Sonali Chopde and superintending engineer Rajesh Patil inspected the site on the day of the breach and directed that the embankment be repaired urgently and the discharge stopped.