All four dams upstream of Mutha river are filled to capacity. (Express)With heavy rain predicted on Thursday, Pune district authorities are on high alert to tackle the possible flood-like situation.
Release of water into Mutha river from the Khadakwasla dam was increased to 42,624 cusecs on Wednesday night, and will be further increased to 45,474 cusecs. The same amount of water had been released on Monday (August 5), flooding the low-lying areas alongside Mula and Mutha. The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has kept its disaster management team on alert and is continuously monitoring the situation.
On Wednesday, the district water resource department had kept the water release to 27,203 cusecs, after the intensity of rainfall decreased. The PMC had also begun cleaning up and sanitising the inundated localities.
Over the past 10 days, around 7,000 people have been moved to relief camps set up in civic schools in the city.
The four dams upstream of Mutha — Khadakwasla, Panshet, Varasgaon and Temghar — are filled to capacity despite regular water release. In the last 24 hours, there has been a total of 289 mm rain in the catchment area of the four dams.
The Khadakwasla dam, with a capacity of 1.97 TMC, was the first to fill, leading to release of water into the Mutha for the past ten days. The Panshet dam, with capacity of 10.65 TMC, was the next, followed by Varasgaon dam, with capacity of 12.82 TMC. The Temghar dam, having capacity of 3.71 TMC, was filled on Monday night. Now, the total capacity of the four dams upstream is 29.15 TMC, despite water being released into the river.
