This is the photo of spill ways of hydro-electric dam in Kaptai under Rangamati district of Bangladesh. There are 16 gates to spill water to downstream of Karnafuly rives. If the penstocks of all the 16 gates are opened at a time it can spill 625000 cusec of water. A vast agricultural (mainly paddy land) area in downstream region falling in Chittagong district adjacent to Chittagong Hill Tracts (CHT) is flooded when all the gates are opened to drain the water of the Karnafuly lake to keep the water level at safety level. This operation normally is made during rainy season when heavy downpour takes place and the water level of the lake rises rapidly following huge inflow of rain water through tributaries of Karnafuly river and down flow of muddy water from numerous hill ridges. Though the hydro-electric dam was built during Pakistan regime i.e. in 50s to generate power to be supplied to national grid it brought a giant man-made disaster to socio-economic life of indigenous communities of the CHT as well as endless sorrows for the Bengali community living along either banks of Karnafuly river in downstream. The picture shows heavy flow of water through the spillways of Kaptai hydro-electric dam.
