MODERN TEMPLE: A view of Hirakud dam.

BHUBANESWAR: Even as an evaluation study on benefits accrued from India's first post-independence multi-purpose dam project, Hirakud, is yet to be carried out, experts have come out with astronomical figures quantifying the profits from the dam, which turned 50 years this month. Former engineer-in-chief of water resource department B P Das said the State gained minimum Rs 30,000 crores during last few decades due to Hirakud dam on account of irrigation, power generation and flood control.

He said conservative estimate of annual electricity generation from the project could be around Rs 300 crores and management and damage cost during a flood that was checked by the dam was guesstimated about Rs 500 crores. With the annual gains worth of approximately Rs 1700 crores from Hirakud dam, the total earning from the dam could cross more than Rs 30,000 crores during the last two decades, Mr. Das said. ``The dam checked floods 24 times during 30 high flood situations. Only on six occasions, the floods ravaged the State. Had there not been the structure, the damage on account of flood could have been colossal,'' Mr. Das said.

Former chief engineer Sudhakar Patri said: ``Apart from the direct benefits, its ripple effect on State's economy has been enormous. The dam, which has been the one of the most important infrastructures of the State, changed the life of a few urban centres in sixties." Mr. Patri, however, asked the policy makers to prepare strategy for repair and maintenance of the dam, which crossed half of its life span. ``Hirakud is a big bomb. Regular monitoring and repair of gates should be taken up on annual basis and a special fund should be earmarked for that purpose. Any negligence could create havoc in command areas and deltaic districts of the state,'' he warned.

Uphill task

The former chief engineer said the siltation was emerging as a major crisis, which needed to be dealt with. ``The reservoir has already lost water storage capacity of around 20 per cent due to siltation."

Assistant director of the state Dam Safety organisation A K Das said, ``maximum emphasis should now be given to management of catchment area. Proper land use would help restrict siltation.'' It, however, seem to be an uphill task for the State Gvernment to put an holistic management system in place for the upper catchment as nearly 75,000 sq km area of 83400 sq km-catchment area falls in other states.

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