Bhubaneswar, Aug 28 (IANS): The Odisha government on Tuesday asked the district collectors of the Mahanadi river system to remain alert as Hirakud dam authorities will open 25 gates and release about 4 lakh cusecs of water.

The District collectors of Sambalpur, Sonepur, Boudh, Nayagarh, Angul, Cuttack, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapara, Khurdha and Jajpur have been asked to remain alert.

The Special Relief Commissioner (SRC), Bishnupada Sethi, asked the collectors to take precautionary action as the dam gates will be opened on Tuesday evening. As a result, nearly 8-8.5 lakh cusecs of water is expected to reach Mundali by Thursday.

Sambalpur district collector has been asked to evacuate people from low lying areas of the town.

"However, flow of 6 lakh cusecs of water will pass Munduli from Tuesday evening and will rise to 8 lakh cusecs by Thursday," he added.

The SRC has asked the district administrations to draw up an emergency plan to meet any eventuality and also to ensure the functioning of control room round the clock.

He directed the collectors to ensure that people are properly sheltered and provided cooked food, drinking water and health facilities.

As there are possibilities of flood in Salandi river, the Bhadrak district administration has also been asked to monitor the situation.

The agricultural area in a few gram panchayats under Tihidi block and Bhadrak Municipal area is likely to be affected.