Durgapur barrage lock gate breaks once again after 2017, leads to panic among locals 

"We are expecting to help complete restoration in next couple of days. Work is in progress on war footing," said Sanjay Singh, Executive Engineer of the Damodar Headworks Division of the State Irrigation Department.

Rasida Kazi

Hummingbird News

DURGAPUR, 31 OCT: In just three years, the Durgapur Barrage on the Damodar faced yet another disaster after another lock gate of the 692 metres Barrage collapsed in the wee hours today.

On 24 November, 2017, the Gate No:1 of the Barrage had broken and today it was the turn of Gate No: 31 that jeopardized the civic life, cultivation and also hit the machines at the vital utilities like power and steel perpendicularly on the right and left banks of the Damodar. "If the situation persists, our generation would see a grinding halt in 48 hours," said Nikhil Chowdhury, Chief Engineer, Mejia Thermal Power Station - the largest power utility in eastern India.

"We are expecting to help complete restoration in next couple of days. Work is in progress on war footing," said Sanjay Singh, Executive Engineer of the Damodar Headworks Division of the State Irrigation Department.

At 4:30 am today, the local fishermen heard a crushing noise and awfully witnessed a desperate uncalled for deluge gushing in close to the right bank and that started attracting their small boats too. Somehow managed to escape, the scared fishermen sent SOS to the local Barrage officer who rushed to press the panic button.

"Almost 40 inches of the sluice Gate No: 31 showed a sharp bent in its lower left blade pricking the pond reservoir to get spilled through," said Singh.

It took almost six hours to decide whether the entire 8000 acre-feet water reserve of the Barrage needed to be exhausted and at 11 am, the entire 34 lock-gates of the Barrage were opened moderately to help the discharge rate at a meagre 700 cusecs keeping in mind whether the discharge would injure crop in the districts like East Burdwan, Bankura, Hooghly and Howrah in the lower Damodar region.

At 4 pm, the entire Barrage pond was drained out. A team of mechanical engineers then took the measurements of the damaged portion and the officials decided to replace the Gate.

A new gate kept in custody of the Damodar Headworks Division meanwhile mismatched with the Gate No: 31 as it was of Under Sluice type against the requirement of a Weir Proper type gate.

"Let’s install this and then we would customize it over night with additional fittings," ordered Jayanta Das, Chief Engineer (West) of the Irrigation Department at 7 pm today.