Hi,
See the attached news report.

The project`s current status is closed due to flooding
like 10 days back. Even if it was running, it would
have been closed because the silt level is too high in
Sutlej. The sanctioning of the money to re-evaluate
teh silt problem is the acknowledgement of a folly of
the supreme nature by the Govt. It means that the
project is bound to doom under present circumstances.
God forbid, if they really have to shut it down if it
is found unfeasible. The idiots designed a 10,000
crore hydel project of taxpayers money for warm sunny
days where probably they could sit next to the Sutlej,
read newspaper and eat biscuits along with tea
admiring the clean and clear blue water with no silt
flowing like some stream.
Someones head need to be rolled. 10,000 crore is no
joke and neither is Rs 27 Lakh which they will now
spend on holidaying in Himalayas. I sincerely wish
that this time they come with some concrete proposal
and not a file saying "The project is doomed".

***********************************************
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20050920/himachal.htm#1

Silt in Sutlej: move to study catchment area
Tribune News Service

Shimla, September 19
Concerned at recurring breakdown of the country's
largest hydroelectric venture, the 1500-MW Nathpa
Jhakri project, due to excessive silt in Sutlej, the
Union Ministry of Environment has decided on a
comprehensive study to map environmental status of its
catchment.

The objective of the study is to prepare an
environmental status report of the Sutlej catchment
and to identify related issues ,besides suggesting
measures to resolve the problems. The ministry has
sanctioned Rs 27 lakh for the study to be conducted by
the state's Environment Protection and Pollution
Control Board in collaboration with the Central
Pollution Control Board.

It is the first study of its kind to be taken up by
the Union Ministry, which plans to replicate it in
other catchments as environmental degradation has
affected most of the important rivers.

Total catchment area of the river upstream the Nathpa
dam from where the water of the river is diverted for
the project is 49,820 sq km of which 36,900 falls in
Tibet and the remaining 12,920 sq km in Himachal
Pradesh. The extent to which the river has been
affected due to the ongoing environmental degradation
could be judged from the ever-increasing level of
silt. The Nathpa Jhakri project was designed for a
maximum silt level of 5,000 ppm (parts per million) on
the basis of data as per which the silt content was
likely to exceed this limit only for four days in a
year. However, in the very first monsoon after the
project was commissioned the silt content has
surpassed the permissible limit on 53 days from June
24 to August 31.

The study will help generate authentic environment
related data which will help engineers in planning
future projects on the river. The composite view of
environmental status mapping and conservation
priorities of the catchment will also be useful to
environmental regulators to have a neutral opinion in
decision making while granting clearances to
development projects.

The user agencies such as agriculture, forest,
wildlife, Hydropower, Industry and Tourism departments
of the state will be taken into confidence while
conducting the study which will also enable the
government to evolve the strategies for conservation
of catchment and sustainable development.