The Hindu Business Line : NHPC's hydel projects in J&K not hit by quake

DESPITE widespread devastation wrecked by Saturday's earthquake, initial reports suggest that all the hydel power projects in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) have emerged nearly unscathed.

"There have been no major damages at any of the hydel stations in the State," the Chief Secretary, Mr Vijay Bakaya, told Business Line.

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), which operates three major projects in J&K and where another project is in advanced stages of commissioning, has also ruled out any major damage to any of its stations in the State.

"We have a high-level team going to the site on Tuesday. So far, there have been no reports of any structural damages to any of our projects even though there has been damage to the residential complexes near the Uri project," an NHPC official said.

However, generation at the stations has been disrupted in light of damages to the intra-State transmission links in several places in the quake-affected areas of J&K, State Government officials said.

"We are in the process of getting the projects on stream, with the transmission links being restored," an official said.

NHPC officials said that most of the projects in the Himalayas have been executed after factoring in at least one "site-specific earthquake parameter study".

"Even though Saturday's quake was massive, it is only in case of earthquakes beyond magnitude 8 on the Richter scale that concrete dams become most vulnerable," an official said.

Among NHPC's projects in J&K, the Rs 3,300-crore Uri project in Baramulla district was closest to the epicentre of the quake. The run-of-the-river project, commissioned in 1997, supplies power to eight States including J&K, Delhi, UP, Rajasthan, Haryana, and Punjab.

NHPC's 345 MW Salal I project in Udhampur district was believed to be more prone to damage, largely since it is an older project (commissioned in 1987) and comprises a 118-m-high 630-m-long rockfill dam and a 113-m-high 450-m-long concrete dam among the civil structures.

NHPC's 390 MW Dulhasti project in Doda district is in the process of being commissioned.

"A detailed assessment of the status of the project would be possible only after the team going to the site tomorrow files a report," an NHPC spokesperson said.

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