Commissioning of Tehri delayed

The commissioning of the controversial 2400 Mw Tehri dam has been postponed by another month despite the successful test-run of its turbine.

This follows the decrease in the inflow of the Bhagirathi waters, currently hovering around 722 metres above the sea level at the reservoir.

"We require the water level to reach the 740-metre mark; only then the commissioning can take place," said S K Shukla, general manager, Tehri Hydro Development Corporation (THDC), the nodal agency for implementation of the project, which is a joint venture between Uttar Pradesh government and the Centre.

Uttaranchal would get 12 per cent of the electricity from Tehri free of cost.

However, Shukla said some initial test-runs like mechanical spinning have been completed.

Though no date has been fixed for the commissioning of Asia's highest dam, the project authorities are hopeful that the power plant, which is being built at a whopping cost of Rs 7,000 crore, will be commissioned in June. "We are expecting that water level may rise in June," Shukla said. Earlier, the government had announced in the state assembly that the Tehri project would be commissioned in May.

At the time of commissioning, the dam will only start generating 1000 MW (comprising four units of 250 MW each), the transmission lines for which have already been laid and linked to the national grid. The dam authorities on October 31 last year closed the T-2 diversion tunnel paving way for the production of much-awaited power generation from the power plant, which is being described as an engineering marvel by the THDC authorities.

With the closure of the T-2 tunnel, the historic Old Tehri town, along with several low-lying villages, also submerged into waters of the Bhagirathi river. A huge reservoir has already been formed at the dam.

The Tehri dam has run into various controversies from time to time ever since it was conceptualized in 1970s with several issues, including rehabilitation of locals, becoming a major hurdle in its completion.