The BRICS TimesDuring its technical committee meeting on Thursday, the Bhakra Beas Management Board confirmed that the deflection of Bhakra Dam has reached 1.1408 inches, crossing the approved threshold of 1.03 inches.
As Punjab grapples with its most severe flooding in almost forty years, attention has turned toward the Bhakra Dam, where officials have confirmed that structural deflection has gone beyond the acceptable safety margin.
The Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), in its technical committee meeting on Thursday, reported that the dam’s deflection had reached 1.1408 inches, higher than the 1.03-inch permissible limit. Though this figure remains lower than the 1.1476 inches observed in 2019, the current situation, compounded by continuous rise in water levels, has prompted authorities to take preventive measures and regulate water outflow.
At the time of the meeting, the Bhakra reservoir on the Sutlej River stood at 1,679.05 feet—just 0.95 feet below the full reservoir level (FRL) of 1,680 feet. With constant inflows from catchment areas adding to the pressure, the dam’s stability has become a matter of close observation.
In view of this, the BBMB decided to enhance the water release from 75,000 cusecs to 85,000 cusecs to maintain reservoir balance and handle incoming water, officials said. The Pong Dam on the Beas River, meanwhile, was recorded at 1,394.62 feet—4.62 feet above its FRL—according to the same review meeting.
Chief Engineer of BBMB, Manoj Tripathi, underlined that the release was an essential step to ensure safety and compliance with operational standards. The aim, he said, was to bring down the Bhakra level to 1,678.50 feet by September 10.
Acknowledging that the dam had deflected more than the designated limit, Tripathi assured that there was no reason for alarm. “Yes, we are concerned and thus we are closely monitoring the situation and releasing water to keep the dam level lower than 1,680 feet,” he said.
Explaining further, he added: “Bhakra is a gravity dam that can deflect 1.03 inches. However, as per seismic structure, it can deflect up to 1.53 inches. There are other parameters like thrust, stress and strain and also leakage, which is well within limits, thus there is not to panic, but we are worried as the inflow of water is almost 20% more than of previous years.”
Reiterating that safety remained the BBMB’s foremost priority, Tripathi noted, “The dam’s safety is paramount for the BBMB and thus the water release has been increased from 75,000 to 85,000 cusecs.”
The wider flooding has already wreaked havoc across parts of Punjab, affecting farmland, infrastructure, and local populations. The Beas River, in particular, has registered record inflows—higher than the volumes recorded both in 2023 and back in 1988. Officials anticipate that controlled water discharges will need to continue for at least another week to effectively tackle the crisis.
