Ropar thermal plant channel breaches again

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Rajinder Kaur

Ropar

The micro-hydel channel of the Ropar Thermal Plant had breached again on Wednesday night, flooding hundreds of acres of agricultural land in the surrounding villages. A 70-feet wide breach took place in the right bank of the three-kilometre long channel around midnight. The residents of the villages came to know about the breach after the water entered their fields.The thermal plant authorities were informed about the matter.

On receiving the information, senior Thermal Plant Chief Engineer K Lall ‑along with other senior officials and DSP(R) Ropar HS Hundal -- reached the spot. The discharge of water into the channel was immediately stopped and diverted through the old route of the escape channel into the Sutlej. The villages which were affected due to the breach included Ranjitpura, Taraf, Batarla, Tibba Tapprian, and Dahirpur.

The micro-hydel channel carries hot waste water from the thermal plant to the Sutlej river. It is the fourth breach in the channel since the start of its construction and commissioning. Some years ago, the channel was breached for the first time at the time of its testing during construction. It was again breached one month after its commissioning. The third breach took place in September 2008. The residents of the affected villages are sore over the damage being caused to their crops due to frequent breaches in the channel. They alleged that no compensation had been provided to the affected farmers for the loss suffered by them due to frequent breaches.They demanded that compensation be provided to them.

It may be mentioned that the micro-hydel channel was constructed as an extension to the escape channel, and it has the capacity to carry 600 cusecs of water discharge. It is alleged that frequent breaches in the channel occur due to poor quality of its construction work and a faulty design. When contacted, thermal plant chief engineer K Lall said senior engineers would conduct an investigation into the matter, adding that the work on plugging the breach would start soon. Ropar Deputy Commissioner GK Singh said that special ‘girdawari’ would be conducted to provide compensation to affected farmers, and the report in this regard would be sent to the government in a day or two.