PATIALA: The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) that controls and monitors the flow of water in the three major river systems of Punjab has gone into an overdrive to regulate the water in Ravi, Beas and Satluj Rivers as incessant heavy rains across the regions have put the authorities on a high alert.The BBMB has put all its top functionaries on alert to ensure that a round the clock vigil is maintained. The board has decided to open the floodgates at the pong and the Ranjit Sagar dams. The water level at Pong was recorded at 1382.45 feet late Monday evening, while on September 20, which is considered to be the end of the filing season, the water level was 1376.71 feet. The dam is of 1400 feet capacity and the authorities resort to opening all floodgates in case the water reaches 1395 feet.The BBMB’s Talwara station sounded a flood alter for the areas of Dharamshala district along with the subdivisions of Fatehpur, Dehragopipur, Indora and Shahnehar division in Badukhar claiming that ‘due to high pattern of inflow in pong reservoir and considering forecast of heavy rain in the Beas catchment area extra water from pong dam can be released and all necessary steps be taken by all concerned to avoid any damage and loss of life and property in the downstream areas’, read the alert.The situation at the Ranjit Sagar dam also called for regulatory measures and the board opened two gates to release the extra waters into the Ravi River. A warning was sounded in villagers in Dasuya, Tanda and Mukerian tehsils of Hoshiarpur district in Punjab. The maximum reservoir level of Ranjit Sagar Dam is 527.91 meter while the current level was recorded at 525.69 meters on Monday evening just before the gates were opened. As per the protocol, the slip gates are opened when the water level reaches 522 meters. Initially, only two to three spill gates are opened but if the water continues to flow in, all seven gates can also be opened to protect the dam structure.However, the situation at the Bhakra dam was a little better. Chief engineer at the Bhakra Dam Sanjeev Kumar Suri said as on Monday the water level was recorded at 1654.65 feet against 1651.25 feet on September 20. He said that the dam could still sock up plenty of water before the need to open the floodgates is felt. The dam can be filled up to its maximum storage capacity of 1,680 feet in a regulated manner.Meanwhile, chairman of the BBMB DK Sharma said that measures had to be taken to ensure the safety of the dam structures. “We have passed on the necessary information to the concerned officials in areas from where the rivers flow and precautionary measures are being taken,” he said.

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