Kol Dam’s plunge pool damaged again

Mahesh Chander Sharma

Sundernagar, January 31

A plunge pool of the 800-MW Kol Dam, the first hydropower project of NTPC Limited, has damaged for the third time since 2015.

Although the authorities have been spending crores of rupees on its repair every year, the problem is yet to be resolved. Earlier, the plunge pool was found damaged within a few months of its operation in 2015.

The foundation stone of the dam situated on the border of Mandi and Bilaspur was laid by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee in 2000. However, it was commissioned in 2015.

The dam was built on the Sutlej to release extra water from the reservoir spread over 42 km. A spillway comprising six gates was constructed on the left side of the reservoir from where water fell into the Sutlej after forming a circular track. The pool was specially constructed at the bottom of the spillway to control the speed of water. Although the mega structure of the spillway was designed to release water up to 16,500 cubic metre per second through six gates, the authorities released water through one or two gates only. All the gates were never opened.

Later, it was observed that within one month of its operation, both sides of the pool started eroding due to “poor quality of construction”.

A visit to the site revealed that a huge loss has been caused to the walls of the pool. The debris has accumulated on the riverbed. Hundreds of loads of debris is being removed and dumped on the right portion of the Sutlej.

Local residents said tippers had been roped in to remove the debris from the site. A section of officials said the pool was developing faults time and again due to “poor quality of construction and faulty design”.

An engineer said if water was released in full pressure, it would damage the entire structure of the dam, besides posing a threat to the lives of people living nearby.

Parveen Bharti, who is associated with the project, said it was due to loose strata of the earth that the sides of the plunge pool had damaged yet again. He said repair work was underway.