Cuttack, March 15: Dismantling and removal of remains of a 150-year-old anicut in the Mahanadi barrage upstream at Jobra is nearing completion.

Anicut is a dam made in the course of a stream to regulate water flow for irrigation.

The work had been resumed nearly a year ago after a gap of over a decade to prevent formation of shoals or deposit of sand close to the upstream and improve its flood release capacity. Mahanadi barrage division officials expect the work to be over before the monsoon. The Rs 10-crore project assumes significance as the remains of the old structure, according to experts, have been a major cause of increasing sediment load upstream of the barrage and rising flood level. Barrage is a diversion structure. The storage in the pond upstream of the barrage caters to the variation of inflow and outflow according to the flow in the river.

"The dismantling of the old anicut has been over and debris removal work is in progress," said Mahanadi barrage division executive engineer Sagar Mohanty.

The British era old anicut over the Mahanadi was built in 1866 for irrigating about 3,95,378 hectares of farmland in Cuttack, Jajpur, Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur districts through an extensive network of canals. The new barrage was built 60 metres downstream of the old anicut in the 1980s after it was felt that the old anicut would collapse.

"The anicut in front of the barrage was a major cause of formation of shoals in the barrage upstream, rising of river bed level, diversion of higher sediment load to the Birupa river and increase in flood level," said Sudhakar Patri, retired chief engineer of the water resources department.

"The state government has taken action for dismantling the old structure. However, it should be ensured that the debris from dismantling is removed from front of the barrage," Patri said in a recent report submitted to the National Green Tribunal. He was appointed court commissioner to find out whether the Bali yatra was being held on the river bed or on alluvium deposit near the Gadgadia Temple on the Mahanadi riverside.