Tapovan tragedy is second blow to NTPC after Loharinagpala

NTPC Limited on Wednesday said it is yet to make an assessment of the damage caused by the Feb 7 deluge to its 520 Mw TapovanVishnugad hydel projectAfter his recent visit to Tapovan Union Minister of State for Power RK Singh had earlier put an estimated loss of Rs 1500 crore for the project which was nearing its completion when the disaster struckAt the moment our focus is entirely on the rescue operation We will make an assessment of the damages at a later stage said RP Ahirwal General Manager of the NTPC Tapovan Project The project was slated to be commissioned in 2023 After the deluge the fate of the project hangs in balanceIt is not the first time that NTPC has suffered big losses in the hydropower sector in the hill state In 2009 the centre had scrapped its 600 Mw Loharinagpala project on environmental and religious grounds related to the holy river Bhagirathi after late IIT Kanpur Prof G D Agarwal had staged fast unto death NTPC had invested around Rs 650 crore in the project when it was stoppedNTPCs TapovanVishnugad project had suffered considerable damage as the heavy floods coupled with entire debris of the 132 Mw Rishiganga project which was the first to be destroyed in the upstream rammed into it blocking the entire intake adit tunnel There are damages We can only say this said AhirwalAt present NTPC is focusing on the rescue operation So far the mucking in intake adit tunnel has reached 160 meters Ahirwal said We have also dug a hole for going vertically down which is as big as 300 mm in diameter and 12 meter deep We are in touch with top scientists to take help and suggest measures Ahirwal said The water level in the bore hole is under observation he saidAhirwal said more than 325 personnel including engineers officers geologists scientists security officials from NTPC THDC CISF and other associates are at the site and constantly engaged in rescue operations There is also continuous support from the district administration and organisations such as ITBP BRO NDRF SDRF Army state PWD SJVN and RVNLAs the Tapovan project faces an uncertain future environmentalists such as Suresh Bhai have called for a review of the NTPC project on environmental groundsThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever