The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Power and New & Renewable Energy RK Singh has said he is continuously monitoring the situation in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district, where two hydropower plants have suffered major damage after the glacial outburst on Sunday morning.
“The natural disaster in Uttarakhand... is very sad and tragic,” Singh said.
“While rescue operations are on, we are assessing the ground situation with the help of district administration and the police. SDRF (State Disaster Response Fund), ITBP (Indo-Tibetan Border Police) and the Indian army are carrying out rescue operations. Divers from the Indian Navy are also on standby.” He added that he is in constant touch with Uttarakhand Chief Minister Trivendra Singh Rawat.
The glacial burst led to the rising of water levels in Rishiganga river, which washed away the Rishiganga small hydro project of 13.2 MW. The floods have also severely damaged NTPC’s under-construction hydropower project Tapovan Vishnugad (520 MW) in the area.
Tapovan Vishnugad is a run-of-river project with a capacity of 4X130 MW. The project’s units were slated to be commissioned in 2022-23. The contracting agencies whose labours were deployed on Monday are Rithwik Projects, HCC and OM Metal Infraprojects, said a statement from the Ministry.
The Power Minister further said that the extent of damage and casualties is being assessed.
“I have asked NTPC’s top management to travel to the site of the disaster for better coordination of relief operations,” Singh said. “Twelve persons have already been rescued. We are still trying to ascertain the exact number of missing workers from the project site and are praying that the casualties are not much.”