Sundernagar, September 19
The Bypass chute of 990 MW Dehar Power House was tested by the Bhakra Beas Management Board Authorities at Slapper, about 20 km from here, today afternoon.
Water of the Beas is diverted from Pandoh and is collected at a reservoir at Sundernagar. From this place, the water is again diverted through a 12.3 km tunnel and is used at the Dehar Power House at Slapper, (where six generators of 165 MW are used for production of electricity and then it falls into the Sutlej.
Mr Balbir Singh, member (irrigation), BBMB, has specially come to spot for witnessing the operation. Around 1 pm, the water started flowing from the bypass chute, the height of which is about 1,000 ft. The lower end of the chute has a slight curve from which the water flows into the Sutlej in a parabolic path.
Mr Balbir Singh, said it was an annual exercise and was conducted to test the system as the bypass chute was main safety device to save the Sundernagar-Slapper tunnel. The device was specially designed for that purpose.
Another function of the chute was to clear silt from the tunnel, that could damage the machinery at the Dehar Power House.
According to senior officials of the BBMB, three gates were used to release water from the chute, the total capacity of which was 7,500 cusecs/sec. Today, 36 lakh cusec water was released. The gates remained open for 30 minutes.
Hundreds of persons, including families of BBMB employees, were present to witness the event. The onlookers had gathered on the Slapper-Harnora road disrupting the traffic on it and on the National Highway No 21.
When the water started flowing, it was muddy but by the time the exercise ended the flow had turned sparkling clear. This indicated that the silt content of the tunnel had been cleared.
The Chief Engineer, BBMB, Sundernagar, Mr S.P. Sharma and SE of the Dehar Power House were also present.
