Sone river. Telegraph picture

Patna, Sept. 10: The government today sounded a red alert in at least nine districts along the rivers Sone and Gandak in the wake of Vansagar dam in Madhya Pradesh suddenly releasing an unprecedented volume of water in the Son and heavy rains lashing the Ganga’s catchment areas over the past 48 hours.

Water resources department officials revealed that as much as 5,29,725 cusecs of water was released today from the Vansagar dam against only 9,460 cusecs by 6am yesterday. “It has put enormous pressure on Indrapuri barrage on Son in Bihar’s Rohtas district,” said public relations officer Shubchandra Jha before adding: “The development has caused the threat of floods in Ara and Patna districts.” Moreover, heavy rain in the catchment areas of Ganga has caused the water-level to rise, posing the threat of flood in Chhapra, Vaishali, Samastipur, Begusarai, Katihar, Bhagalpur and Khagaria districts.

Central Water Commission sources said the water-level in the Ganga at Gandhi Ghat here was likely to rise by 0.5m by tomorrow morning.

Water resources minister Vijay Kumar Choudhary and principal secretary to the department Afzal Amanullah held a meeting to direct all district magistrates and chief engineers concerned to step up the vigil on the embankments under pressure under their respective jurisdiction.

The Son canal up to Patna has been blocked as part of preventive measures and the process was underway to block the same up to Ara also, sources said.

Vansagar dam has been a bone of contention between the Madhya Pradesh and Bihar with the latter usually accusing the former for not regulating the flow of Son. Patna High Court is slated to hear a PIL on the issue on September 19. The PIL, filed by the Son Area Farmers Struggle Committee, has alleged that the MP government seldom released adequate share of water to Bihar, when the latter required it more in winter months.

“It (Vansagar dam management) usually releases more water putting pressure on Indrapuri barrage in Rohtas district during monsoon when the Son command area hardly needs water,” the PIL has alleged.

The struggle committee has chief minister Nitish Kumar, RJD MP Jagdanand Singh, deputy CM Sushil Kumar Modi and BJP leader Saryu Rai as its members.