Chandigarh, Sept. 4 -- Owing to incessant rainfall in the catchment of the river Sutlej, the water level in the Bhakra Dam reservoir, Gobind Sagar Lake, on Wednesday rose to 1,678.45 feet, just 1.5 feet short of its maximum filling capacity of 1,680 feet, forcing the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) to increase the discharge. This comes amid Punjab's request to curtail the release. As per renewed releases from Wednesday, BBMB has started releasing 75,000 cusecs from Bhakra Dam, out of which 38,000 cusecs is from the penstocks for generating power in the turbines and 37,000 cusecs from the floodgates at the top of the dam. Out of the total releases, 57,000 cusecs of water will go downstream into the Sutlej, and the remaining 18,000 cusecs will be released into the canals. On Tuesday, 56,000 cusecs was released from the dam. On Wednesday, during the technical committee meeting with the BBMB, the Punjab engineers put forth the state's demand to decrease in discharge from the two dams managed by the Board, Bhakra and Pong, to give some relief to inundated districts. Since the deluge submerged vast swathes of land in 12 districts, BBMB and the state irrigation department have been facing criticism from the people and farmers. It is learnt that BBMB has refused to accede to the state's demand, with the Board's top officials, who were not willing to be named, saying that this might compromise the safety of both dams. "The dams are receiving huge water from the catchment areas, and in case it is not released, it might compromise the safety of the dams," an official said. To release the quantum of water, eight feet of the floodgates have been opened. The dam is getting inflows of 98,335. On Tuesday, the inflows stood at 1.7 lakh cusecs. The inflows into three key dams, including Ranjit Sagar Dam has almost doubled in the past 24 hours. Due to heavy discharges, the dam and civil authorities have issued a red alert for the villages and towns adjacent to the river Sutlej in Ropar, Nawanshahr, Ludhiana, and Jalandhar districts. Meanwhile, the water level in Pong Dam on Wednesday touched the danger level of 1,394.38 feet, up from 1,390.63 feet on Tuesday. The dam's danger mark is 1,390 feet. The reservoir saw a rise of more than three feet, as the inflows touched 1.3 lakh cusecs. The releases are being maintained at 85,000 cusecs, which on Tuesday were 96,777 cusecs. The dam is already running 4.38 feet higher than the danger mark. The water levels in Ranjit Sagar Dam reservoir touched 527 metres (1729 feet), witnessing a rise of over 2 metres in the past 24 hours. The level is 0.91 metres (nearly 3 feet) short of the danger mark - 527.91 metres (1732 feet). The inflows into the reservoir touched 86,000 cusecs, and releases are being maintained at 70,751 cusecs....