The Hindu Business Line : Drop in river water level worries KoPT

Cause for concern
The high-level inter-ministerial group is reviewing the situation.
Sharp drop in water level causes problems for NTPC's Farakka plant.

Kolkata , March 16

A sharp drop in the water level in the Ganga-Bhagirathi-Hooghly river system at Farakka might spell disaster for the Kolkata port (including the Haldia dock), apprehends the Kolkata Port Trust (KoPT). The drop is believed to have been caused by scanty rainfall as well as diversion of water in the upper reaches of the river for Tehri Dam.

The high-level inter-ministerial group of the Union Government is already reviewing the situation and keeping a close watch on it, it is learnt.

"We've information that the water level of the river system at Farakka has dropped sharply, already causing serious problems for the National Thermal Power Corporation's (NTPC) super thermal plant at Farakka, and we're keeping our fingers crossed," says a spokesman for KoPT.

It takes about a week for the dock systems of the Kolkata port to feel the impact of the water flow situation at Farakka.

Lean months

As it is, the lean months, January to April are problem months every year for the port due to the reduced water flow through Farakka, more so because of the effect of the sharing of the Ganga water between India and Bangladesh as per the agreement signed a few years ago between the two countries. The situation is particularly bad this year.

The effect of poor discharge through Farakka, it is feared, will be felt both at the Kolkata Dock System (KDS) and the Haldia Dock. At KDS, the stability in the draft is maintained by and large by the flow through Farakka. If the flow drops, KDS will stand to experience shoaling over larger areas as there are several sandbars in the river on the channel leading to the dock system. At Haldia, the tidal wave from the sea is the critical factor but then Haldia dock suffers from a much larger degree of siltation requiring much larger volume of dredging than KDS. Haldia's maintenance dredging requirement is more than 20 million cubic metres per annum as compared to a meagre one million cubic metre or so at KDS.

The flow of water for India through Farakka, according to informed sources, has dropped to around 17,000/18,000 cusecs in the current 10-day cycle, which began from March 11. In the next 10-day cycle, the figure might improve for India to 35,000 cusecs. But then, it might again drop to 17,000/18,000 cusecs or even less in the cycle beginning April 1. Such wide variations are a matter of concern to the port authorities.

The water level in the river at Farakka was so low that NTPC had to curtail generation of its 1,600-MW plant there a few days ago. The generation is currently being maintained at around 700 MW, it is learnt.