GUWAHATI: North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) has said the Doyang hydro project authority in Nagaland had maintained close contact with the Golaghat district administration besides sharing information on the release of excess water from the Doyang reservoir.
In a press statement issued on Saturday, NEEPCO said the floods in Golaghat district have been triggered by unprecedented rainfall in the entire catchment of the Dhansiri river of which the Doyang catchment is only a part. “Due to the existence of Doyang storage reservoir, the flood peak is getting moderated to the extent the capacity of the reservoir permits,” it said.
The reservoir water level started increasing abruptly since July 25, 2018 with incessant rainfall in the upper catchment area.
“The inflow to the reservoir increased from over 600 cum/sec to over 1150 cum/sec on July 31, 2018, which is much higher than the normal range of inflow and necessitated release of excess water in a controlled manner by opening the radial gates at 5:30 am of July 27, 2018,” the NEEPCO statement said.
“The excess water beyond the capacity of the reservoir flows to the downstream area which cannot be absorbed by the reservoir,” it added.
It further said that a meeting was convened on May 17, 2018 by DDMA, Golaghat with NEEPCO to discuss the modalities for flood preparedness and better coordination for early warning and flood forecasting. The meeting focused mainly on the early and effective warning regarding rise of water level and release of excess water from the project.
The 3×25 MW Doyang hydro-electric project in Wokha district of Nagaland is developed by NEEPCO on the river Doyang, one of the tributaries of the Brahmaputra.
“The entire quantum of power from the plant has been allocated to all the seven states of the Northeast region where Assam has a share allocation of 43.8 per cent,” the statement added.