Hi Sanjay
I thought i would like to mentione few pointers
regarding NJPC. This project is a gem in its final
technical execution. No two thoughts about that. I
have seen the thing shape up in front of my eyes.
Since i grew up there. The dam has always been from
the start bogged with numerous controversies.
Intially HPSEB(Himachal Pradesh State Electricty
Board) was supposed to build this dam. The paper dam
as i would call it then was built only on huge tonnes
of papers and finally when CBI raided them. Huge cash
was found to be misplaced by te concerned officials. I
remember local legends as how "sone ki eent" i.e
bricks of golds were found in the toilets of corrupt
HPSEB officers. Heads were rolled.
There after the state govt. found that it is beyond
its capability in financial and technical terms to
execute this project. A very true assessment.
Afterwards the prject was given to a joint centre
state venture named NJPC with 75:25 equity stake. With
generous world bank support.
Some of the issues that raked up like cancellation of
loans by world bank, miscalculation of the dam height
by 2 metre which almost threatned to cut power
generation by half are nicely covered in this link.

http://www.parliament.the-stationery-office.co.uk/pa/cm199900/cmselect/cmintdev/\
73/73ap02.htm

The final cost of the NJPC project was around 10,000
crores and not 50,000 crores. I dont think India can
afford a 50,000 crore project and such mega projects
are prone to environmental issues.

All said, NJPC is a welcome change to upper himachal.
What is desired is that the locals should be given
more participation in the project through job
generation, scholarships for the local childrens,
building of good schools(NJPC did build a Delhi Public
School for its own staff), building up hospitals,
colleges. They have the infrastructure to put all that
in place and the money too.

NJPC is now going to execute Rampur Hydel project.
This project would involve boring of another head race
tunnel from Jhakri(the existing end point of NJPC
tunnel) to the power generation units near Rampur. The
project 400 MW in size is again huge.
Lets hope the mistakes of the past are not repeated.
And that the people of the region would benefit this
time atleast.

--- sanjay versain <s_versain@...> wrote:

> It is sad that the most embitious power project the
> country has build after independence is facing
> problems without even having started properly. I
> remember having visited the project as a journalism
> student while it was under construction. For me it
> was the greatest engineering marvel and it still is.
> What sadened me at that time was the amout of
> distruction being carried out to carve tunnels,
> roads, etc. In my next visit I found that everything
> had changed with very little signs of earth-removing
> activities. But I knew the hills on which I was
> standing were now empty housing huge machinery or
> carrying huge quantity of Satluj water. Still,
> everything seemed OK as the site itself had been
> beautified to a great extent.
> But today I realise it is not too easy to tame
> nature, whatever the effort, in this case more than
> Rs 50,000 crore rupees......
>
> Tenzin <tenzin_iitb@...> wrote:
> Nathpa flooding: govt orders inquiry
> Rakesh Lohumi
> Tribune News Service
>
> Shimla, September 11
> Exactly a week after the underground power house of
> the 1500-MW Nathpa-Jhakri project was submerged due
> to
> bursting of labyrinth pipe the Government of India
> has
> ordered an inquiry into the incident.
>
> The inquiry will be conducted by a five-member
> committee of experts headed by the Chairman of the
> Central Electricity Authority. The committee will
> ascertain the causes responsible for the bursting of
> the pipe of the fourth generating unit, which led to
> backflow of water from tail pool into the power
> house
> on September 4. It will also pinpoint lapses, if
> any,
> and suggest corrective measures. The committee has
> been asked to submit its report within a month.
>
> Mr D.N. Padhy, Special Secretary, Union Ministry of
> Power, who has been camping at Jhakri for the past
> three days, held detailed talks with the management
> of
> the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam. He underlined the need
> to
> bring the project back on the rails and resuming
> generation at the earliest.
>
> However, sources in the nigam said that the project
> could remain shut down for the next two months. The
> power house was still under 13 m of water and so far
> even the extent of damage to machinery could not be
> ascertained. The exact position would be known only
> after dewatering of the power house. The power
> supply
> unit, the battery unit and the control panel would
> have to be put in place again. The damaged labyrinth
> pipe and other damaged parts of turbines would also
> have to be replaced. All this would require time.
>
> The loss on account of loss of generation during the
> current financial year had touched Rs 450 crore till
> yesterday. As things stand at the moment, the
> project
> may not achieve even 50 per cent of the annual
> target
> of generating 6,950 million units and the total loss
> could touch Rs 800 crore.
>
> Meanwhile, the dewatering gained some momentum with
> the nigam pressing seven pumps, four in the tail
> pool
> and three inside the power house, to speed up
> operation. Water was being pumped out at 250 litres
> per second and more pumps were being deployed to
> achieve a pumping rate of 500 litres per second to
> complete the dewatering in the next six days.
>
> The nigam is in touch with Bharat Heavy Electrical
> Limited (BHEL), which supplied the generating units,
> so that repairs could be undertaken as soon as water
> is pumped out. Any delay could lead to rusting of
> machinery and it could be rendered irreparable.
>
>
>
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