Chandigarh, August 16
The Bhakra Beas Management Authorities (BBMB) today released more water from the Pong dam whose level continues to rise because of heavy inflow. This has forced the Punjab Government to order an alert in areas along the Beas.

Even as the Pong dam is just 5 ft from its maximum filling level of 1,390 feet, sources said the BBMB would be forced to open the Bhakra dam spillway gates within the next three or four days.

The sources said the water level at Bhakra had been rising by nearly 2 ft daily since last week and was at 1,659 ft now. Although this was 20 ft less than its top filling mark, the authorities could release water from the Bhakra if the heavy inflow continued.

The Ranjit Sagar dam in Gurdaspur district has also seen an increase in its water level which was at 525 metres today against a top filling capacity of 528 metres.

BBMB Chairman AB Agrawal said around 50, 000 cusecs of water was being released from the Pong dam-18,000 cusecs from the power plant and the remaining 32,000 cusecs through the spillway gates.

With the Met Office forecasting heavy rain, around one lakh cusecs of water would be released from the Pong dam. An official spokesman said instructions had been issued to the Divisional Commissioners of Jalandhar and Ferozepur and the Deputy Commissioners of Shaheed Bhagat Singh Nagar, Gurdaspur, Hoshiarpur, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Amritsar, Moga, Tarn Taran and Ferozepur to keep a vigil along the river embankments.

Sources at Talwara said that 33,000 cusecs of water was being released into the Beas as the Mukerian hydel channel, situated downstream of the Pong dam, could take only 11,000 cusecs of water. Though the situation was under control as of now, the sources said tomorrow could be crucial as a heavy inflow could force the authorities to go in for a large discharge, which could cause floods downstream. The water inflow into the Pong dam was recorded at an unprecedented 1.75 lakh cusecs today.

Meanwhile, heavy rainfall has damaged crops on 50,000 acres in Punjab and girdwaris have been ordered in this regard. Amritsar recorded 6 mm (441mm till date)of rainfall, Bathinda 12 mm (244 mm till date), Barnala 17 mm (402 mm till date), Gurdaspur 6 mm (420 mm till date), Hoshiarpur 11 mm (436 mm till date) and Jalandhar 3 mm (659 mm till date).