Can’t blame NEEPCO for Assam floods: CMD

SHILLONG: Chairman and Managing Director of North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO) AG West Kharkongor, has said the company cannot be blamed for the floods in Assam’s North Lakhimpur district.
Reacting to reports that stated that water released from NEEPCO’s Ranganadi power plant dam in Arunachal Pradesh flooded North Lakhimpur, he said NEEPCO is not responsible for the flood.
He, however, asserted that the existence of the 405-MW Ranganadi Hydro Electric Plant has mitigated the flood situation to a certain extent by controlling the water.
“There has been a lot of misinformation that the havoc that has been caused in the district has been attributed to the release of water by NEEPCO,” he said while addressing a press conference on Tuesday.
He indicated that in the last few weeks there has been unprecedented torrential rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh.
Highlighting on the matter, Kharkongor said on July 9, the inflow of the dam reached to almost 1,511 cumec. The Ranganadi Power Project can utilise a maximum discharge of 160 cumec of water for running the machines.
“We were not in a position to store water because the water storage capacity is about 200 cumec so naturally the excess capacity of the water has to be released where there is control mechanism,” he said.
He added that 200 cumec out of the 1,511 cumec was utilised as power draft and retained within the Ranganadi reservoir, thus controlling downstream discharges.
There are a number of tributaries which join the Ranganadi in the downstream of the dam which also carry sufficient water from their respective catchment areas to the main river.
“NEEPCO is not responsible for the flood situation, it is a natural phenomenon. To a certain extent, by having the dam on the Ranganadi, we can mitigate by controlling the water,” he said, adding, “There is excess water that cannot be controlled and we cannot close the gate as once the gate is close the level of water will rise beyond the dam and this will cause damage to the structures of the dam.” Kharkongor said if the structures become weak there will be a catastrophe.