Chandigarh, Sept. 29 -- The unprecedented rains in the catchment areas this monsoon season have brought to focus the excessive silt accumulated in the Bhakra Dam's reservoir-Gobind Sagar Dam-which has diminished its storage capacity by 25%. Besides the slit, the shrinking of rivers downstream, change in filling season, and with the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) being the target of a political slugfest between partner states-Punjab and Haryana, has brought the dam management under scrutiny. Experts are now trying to find better ways to handle project, which is a lifeline of the north Indian states - particularly Punjab, Haryana, and Rajasthan. At least 25% of the total capacity of 6 billion cubic metres (BCM) of the Gobind Sagar Lake is filled with sand, leaving effectively just 4.5BCM space for water storage. This not only causes the dam to fill and empty at a faster pace but also contributes to flooding downstream. "Effectively, we are down to just 4.5 BCM of space for storing the water," BBMB chairman Manoj Tripathi had said in a press conference here earlier this month. A senior official in the BBMB, who didn't wish to be named, said there are mounds of silt up to 1,535 feet high within the reservoir, around 10km away from the dam's wall. Annually, 40 BCM of slit is coming into the dam against initial estimates of 35 BCM," the official added. "The BBMB is now working on an action plan for de-silting that will not require the lowering of water levels," Tripathi said. He added that efforts are being made to start dredging of silt in the reservoir. He informed that BBMB is in talks with the partner states, particularly Himachal Pradesh, upstream, and has identified Luhnu point for the dredging of excessive silt. The dam was the key component of the green revolution in the 1960s. Bhakra waters helped irrigate vast tracts of arid lands. In the early 1960s, 2.27 lakh hectares were under paddy cultivation, which increased to 11.83 lakh hectares in the next 10 years. By 1990, the area under paddy doubled, with Punjab contributing up to 50% of the country's rice requirements. Similarly, the area under wheat increased from 14 lakh hectares in the early 1960s to 33 lakh hectares by 1990. The current monsoon season saw the two dams under BBMB, Bhakra and Pong, built over the Beas, receiving 14 BCM and 15 BCM of water in three months, the filling season, which is considered from May 21 to September 20. The inflows were more than double the storage capacity of 6 BCM of the two dams. As on Sunday, over 41,000 cusecs of water are still coming into the Bhakra reservoir, which in previous seasons used to dip to less than 20,000 cusecs. "The water that came into rivers was unprecedented, so now in the future we will have to plan the usage of reservoir water in such a way as to make space for the rainwater," a BBMB official added. The shrinking of river courses downstream of the dams and weak embankments also contributed to the floods. "The spillway (floodgates) of Bhakra can release about 2.97 lakh cusecs of water, while Pong dam can discharge 4.37 lakh cusecs of water. A maximum of 80,000 cusecs of water was released from the floodgates of Bhakra and 1.10 lakh cusecs from Pong Dam on a given day in August month and it caused havoc," a BBMB official quoted above said, adding, "It is a clear signal that our river courses have shrunk." AS Dullet, a retired chief engineer of the irrigation department, Punjab, asked why BBMB doesn't take the dam water to its dead storage level (lowest level). "By doing so, the silt angle will be lowered and it will start moving out of the dam, downstream into the river, creating space for water," Dullet said. "It is very important to start dredging the silt, which was a practice in the past but was stopped," he added. The vast lakes formed by the Bhakra and Pong reservoirs have become natural habitats for migratory birds, which attract a large number of tourists every year. Pong Dam reservoir has been designated as a Ramsar Wetland. More than one lakh migratory birds belonging to 220 species visit the lake every year....