Farakka Barrage
India on Monday opened all 109 gates of the Farakka Barrage amid flooding in Bihar and Jharkhand.
This release will cause 1.1 million cusecs of water to flow into Bangladesh in a single day. The opening of the gates has raised concerns of flooding in Murshidabad, West Bengal, and also in Bangladesh.
The barrage authorities reported that the floods in the neighboring states had increased water pressure. However, there is a silver lining as the mountain torrents from Nepal have not yet arrived. The water level in the Farakka Barrage area has risen to 77.34 meters above the danger level, forcing the authorities to open the gates. Consequently, the amount of water in the feeder canal has also been increased.
Farakka Barrage General Manager, A. Desh Pandey, stated that the barrage authorities are always alert and monitoring the situation continuously. Due to the rapid increase in water pressure, they had to open all 109 gates; otherwise, there would have been significant stress on the barrage, potentially leading to severe damage.
Currently, 40,000 cusecs of water are being released into the feeder canal, and 1.1 million cusecs downstream.
Meanwhile, the water level of some rivers in the Bangladesh’s northern region might swell due to opening of all the gates of Farakka barrage.
