Narmada: At 11 am today, 23 gates of the state’s largest dam, the Sardar Sarovar Dam, were opened for water releases of over 4.7 lakh cusecs as the dam reached 91.07% of its capacity. Considered the lifeline of Gujarat, the dam built on the Narmada River has a gross storage capacity of 8,614.80 million cubic metres (MCM) against its designed storage of 9,460 MCM, with the water level standing at 135.98 metres compared to the Full Reservoir Level (FRL) of 138.68 metres.

Heavy rainfall in the Narmada basin catchment areas, combined with continuous releases from the Indirasagar and Omkareshwar dams in Madhya Pradesh, has resulted in an inflow of 5.3 lakh cusecs — up by nearly 1 lakh cusecs in the past 24 hours from 3.6 lakh cusecs at 11 am on Thursday. To manage the situation, Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam Limited (SSNNL) opened 23 radial gates to a height of 2.5 metres, releasing 4.46 lakh cusecs into the downstream river and 24,000 cusecs into the canal.

Due to the continuous release of water in recent days, the water level of the Narmada River downstream in Bharuch district has been rising. This morning, the river crossed the danger mark of 24 feet at the Golden Bridge, flowing at 25.32 feet at 11 am, with levels continuing to rise.

Meanwhile, the District Collector of Bharuch has called an urgent meeting to review precautionary measures ahead of the upcoming Ganesh Visarjan. The collector has ordered that under no circumstances should individuals or pilgrims enter the river. Fishermen have also been instructed not to enter the river for fishing. With water levels rising, nearly 30 villages in Narmada, Vadodara, and Bharuch districts have been placed on high alert. DeshGujarat