The 19 metres high and 100 metres long wall of de-siltation basin of under-construction 330 megawatt Srinagar hydro-power project on Alaknanda river collapsed on Saturday morning.
This has made the locals apprehensive especially regarding the safety of Srinagar in Pauri district and Chauras in Tehri district. This is the second time that this power project has suffered damages, the first instance being the collapse of the coffer dam in 2009.
The villagers of Mangsu, Surasu, Gugli and others affected by this hydro-power project submitted a memorandum to Cabinet minister Mantri Prasad Naithani seeking rehabilitation citing the danger they are facing due to leakage in a canal of the power project. The villagers alleged that due to the negligence in the construction of the project by the GVK company, land is being lost to erosion. The cabinet minister reportedly assured the villagers of action including lodging of an FIR against the company.
The locals alleged that the company had not learnt a lesson from the leakage in the canal and tanks of the power house first detected three months ago.The construction of this canal has been questioned by locals and geologists since the start with geologists warning of a disaster if norms have been ignored in the construction of this seven kilometres long canal constructed to supply water to the turbine of the project from the dam site.
According to Professor MPS Bisht of Garhwal Central University, the canal was not constructed according to the norms. The Chauras area in Tehri district is located atop river deposits and the canal too was built in such an area.The university had sent a report regarding this to the government but the authorities had not taken it seriously. Before construction of the canal, a solid foundation should have been laid on the belt of river deposits, he added.
This correspondent phoned the GVK company project coordinator Prasanna Reddy for his view on the situation but got no response.On the other hand, the Srinagar sub-divisional magistrate Raza Abbas told The Pioneer that the leakage in the canal and collapse of the de-siltation basin wall are cases that fall under the jurisdiction of the Tehri district administration but currently there is no danger to Srinagar due to collapse of the wall.