SHILLONG: The Chairman and Managing Director (CMD) of North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Ltd (NEEPCO), A.G. West Kharkongor has maintained that the floods in North Lakhimpur District of Assam cannot be attributed to NEEPCO.
Reacting to reports which pointed out that the water which was released from the dam of Ranganadi hydro-electric power plant of NEEPCO in Arunachal Pradesh had flooded North Lakhimpur, he said that NEECPCO was not responsible for the flood.
He rather 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 flood havoc that has been caused in the District of Lakhimpur and it 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 that on the July 9, the inflow of the dam has reached to almost 1511 cumec. The Ranganadi Power Project situated at the Ranganadi River in Arunachal Pradesh, can utilize a maximum discharge of only 160 cumec of water for running the machines.
“We were not in a position to store beyond because the water storage capacity is about 200 cumec so naturally the excess capacity of the water has to be released wherein there is control mechanism,” he said.
He added that 200 cumec out of the 1511 cumec was utilized as power draft and retained within the reservoir of Ranganadi, thus controlling downstream discharges.
There are a number of tributaries which join Ranganadi river in the downstream of 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 at Ranganadi, we can mitigate by controlling the water,” he said.
He added, “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. So the water will have to be released.” Kharkongor informed that if the structures become weak there will be a catastrophe.