Sambalpur, June 19: Authorities of the Hirakud dam have begun a survey to explore the possibilities of having additional spillways to discharge floodwater from the reservoir.

To start with, they have started soil testing on the left dyke for this purpose.

"According to the direction of the Central Water Commission, we have begun the survey. We will submit the report to the Aegis, a consultancy firm, for their consideration whether the spillways can be constructed at the dam," said superintendent engineer of the Hirakud dam project R.K. Panda.

He said the additional spillways had been proposed to increase the floodwater discharge capacity of the dam to around 20 lakh cusecs.

At present, there are 98 gates to release the water from the dam. Out of them, 64 are sluice gates and 34 are crest gates. Around 12 lakh cusecs water is released through the 98 gates at a time.

Official sources said the additional spillways were proposed at the dam after the commission had revised the release capacity of all major dams.

The commission has recommended the discharging capacity of the dams be increased by 1.5 times.

"We have drilled the earth at two places on the left dyke at the reservoir. Earth drilling will also be carried out at two places on the right dyke of the dam. We will prepare a report on the feature of the underground soil and submit the report to the commission. The report will be submitted by the end of July this year," said executive engineer of the Hirakud dam project Yoshobanta Parida.

In April, a 12-member team of the World Bank, commission and the dam safety department had visited the Hirakud reservoir to conduct a survey on the possibility of the additional spillways. The team selected two locations on the right dyke of the dam and two on the left dyke.