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C'garh opened Kalma barrage sluice gates without prior info:

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Press Trust of India Bhubaneswar
Last Updated : Jun 30 2017 | 9:22 PM IST
Odisha government today informed the Central Water Commission (CWC) about its problems of managing floods in the state due to abrupt opening of sluice gates at Kalma barrage by neighbouring Chhattisgarh.
The state government's move came after the authorities of Kalma barrage opened as many as 46 of the 66 gates and released water without informing a downstream state like Odisha.
The government has strongly objected to the activities of Chhattisgarh government and said it may not be possible to control floods in the state if the neighbouring state continued to do so.
"There was not much water in Hirakud reservoir this time. They (Chhattisgarh) opened the gates without prior information. Had there been enough water in Hirakud reservoir, the situation could have been worse in the state," Odisha's Engineer-in-Chief (EIC), water resources, S K Jain told reporters here.
Odisha's water resources secretary P K Jena, in a letter to the CWC said the Odisha government was kept in dark about such movement of Chhattisgarh.
As a riparian state, Odisha deserves prior information over release of flood waters so that the department of water resources can make precautionary measures to control possible floods, he said in the letter.

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Jena said CWC need to look into the matter as the state government was not kept in the loop.
Though there was an agreement between the two states at a meeting in May this year to exchange information, Chhattisgarh government violated the norm, he alleged.
He has also written to the Principal Secretary, Chhattisgarh Water Resources department, pointing out the lapse on their part by keeping Odisha in the dark about release of water through 46 gates of Kalma Barrage.
While Chhattisgarh government is opening gates of the barrage without informing the riparian state, if it opens the major dams in monsoon keeping Odisha in the dark, it will create havoc in the downstream, Jena apprehend.

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First Published: Jun 30 2017 | 9:22 PM IST

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