Overflow of water from Sharda barrage responsible
Some parts of Udham Singh Nagar’s Khatima region, including Khatima power plant, Chaurapani, Ghoshikuan village, to name a few still remain engulfed in darkness since Saturday midnight when wall of the Sharda canal to the aforesaid Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam limited (UJVNl) run power house caved in near lohia Head in Khatima to the overflow of water from the Sharda barrage.
With death of a person in this mishap, many families living in the vicinity of this power plant were also rendered homeless due to damage to their residential complexes in Khatima. Apart from that, loss to properties including animal husbandry and standing crops due to the same canal flood is also reported to be huge, though actual loss of properties will be estimated after completion of the investigation being carried out by the agencies concerned of the Udham Singh Nagar district administration.
Post disaster, the administrative machinery has already swung into action to put course corrective measures, but this mishap has at the same time raised question whether this incident was a man-made crisis or something that happened through its natural course.
Whatever be the case, Pushkar Singh Dhami, MlA from Khatima, has demanded a high-level inquiry into this case and compensation to the families affected by the incident. “It is a matter of investigation to find out the reasons that led to this mishap, but we demand a high-level inquiry into this case so that the truth comes out and such things are not repeated again,” MlA Dhami told The Pioneer.
“Besides, we also urge the Government to adequately compensate the families which have been affected in this incident,” Dhami said. According to the locals of this region, the discharge in this canal is still regulated by the UP Government’s irrigation department. However, when there is possibility of over discharge of water from the Sharda barrage in the aforesaid canal to the power house, the officials concerned of the power house inform the officials concerned of the UP irrigation department officials concerned to control the over discharge of water.
So it is a matter of opinion whether the officials concerned of the power house informed the UP irrigation department on time about the over discharge of water or not. And it is also to be investigated if there is any lapse on part of the UP irrigation department in taking steps on time to control the overflow of water. Besides, as the local sources informed there is also a defuse system in the power house that helps release excessive water. So it is also to be investigated whether this defuse system was used at the time of crisis or not.