North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited closes all gates of Ranganadi Dam

A CORRESPONDENT

LAKHIMPUR: North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) on Wednesday closed all gates of Ranganadi Dam, which were opened from February 9 for releasing water from the dam in order to dewater the reservoir of the Ranganadi Hydro Electric Plant (RHEP) located at Yazali in Arunachal Pradesh. The reservoir was dewatered under a total plant shutdown programme initiated by the NEEPCO authority.

In this regard, the circular served by the Senior Manager (Civil), Hydro-structure (Management) of RHEP stated that the total plant shutdown was necessary for some important repairing works at various locations of the plant, such as powerhouse, surge shaft gates, tunnel, intake and dam gates, and therefore, dewatering of the reservoir was essential. During the shutdown period, the inflow of the Ranganadi River was diverted from entering into the tunnel and the same was released to the downstream by opening of the radial gates of the dam.

On February 9, the first day of the shutdown period, water was released from the dam-site through its Radial Gate No. 3, opening it by 150 mm from 3.15 pm and by 200 mm from 5.15 pm on the day. Since then a large quantity of water mixed with dirt and sediments were released to the downstream of the River Ranganadi by opening two radial gates of the dam. This released water washed away several bamboo bridges, which were made across the river by the local people in order to connect both banks of the river in the lean season, thereby causing problems for them. The arbitrary water stood as a threat to the several fish species in the downstream of the river.

Though the NEEPCO authority on Wednesday declared that all the gates of the dam were closed at around 12.30 pm, Gate No. 5 was reopened at 7 pm on the same day. In this regard, the hydro-electric power generating company said, “The company has to maintain a particular level of water in the reservoir during filling of the tunnel. If the water level rises, the dam gate will be opened a little bit to maintain the water level. This will be the procedure for the next four days.” However, NEEPCO has not declared whether the company would be successful in repairing the scheduled locations of the plant.

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