The 1000 Mw Tehri hydel project may be running to its full capacity. However, the huge reservoir of the dam has now posed fresh threat to scores of villages in the area.
Tehri Congress MLA Kishor Upadhayay would stage a fast tomorrow seeking immediate rehabilitation of these villages. “I think, there are nearly 122 villages which need to be rehabilitated immediately in Tehri,” Upadhayay told Business Standard. The Tehri district authorities are making an assessment regarding the number of villages to be rehabilitated.
With heavy rains pounding Uttarakhand last month, reservoir level is now hovering around 825 metre. Though the Tehri dam authorities are claiming that they are releasing waters in a staggered manner, there is still apprehension that huge quantity of water accumulated in the reservoir is largely responsible for the inundation of villages around it.
The Uttarakhand government is in constant touch with top officials of the Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC) to discuss the threat situation posed by the reservoir.
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank last month had registered a complaint with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on the rising reservoir level of Tehri dam.
The flood waters last month inundated vast parts of the 400 Mw Koteshwar dam, the second phase of Tehri hydel project which is slated to be commissioned next year. The dam authorities are still under the process of assessing the damages in Koteshwar dam due to floods.
Tehri dam comprises a 260.5 metre high earth and rock-fill dam which is one of the highest in the world. Under the first phase, all the four turbines (250 Mw each) of the project are in operation. Besides providing much needed power to the northern grid, the project has started imparting benefits of additional irrigation facility to 270,000 hectares of land. It is also providing drinking water for 4,000,000 people in Delhi and 3,000,000 people in Uttar Pradesh.