Most Kullu dist dams lack early flood-warning system

Abhinav Vashisht

Kullu, August 18

The Flood Early Warning System (FLEWS) has not been installed on the dams of five power projects in the district. “The district has 192-MW Alian Duhangan, 86-MW Malana-I, 100-MW Malana-II, 100-MW Sainj project and 520-MW Parvati-III projects, but the warning system has not been installed on any of these dams. Last year, the Himachal government had issued notices to 21 power projects, including these projects, over the non-installation of safety equipment,” claimed social activist Prakash.

Prakash said some dams had installed hooters, but these only warn people about the release of water and no equipment was installed to timely figure out the rise in water in the feeder rivers and rivulets due to a cloudburst or heavy rain. He added, “Due to the lack of a system for monitoring disasters or sharing timely information regarding these dams, people have to face the wrath of floods.”

Over a decade since its commissioning, the 520-MW Parvati Hydro Electric Project (PHEP) Stage-III of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) will now get FLEWS on its 43-metre-high dam at Siund in Sainj valley.

According to sources, FLEWS with new technology is being installed at a cost of Rs 1.16 crore. After installation of sensor-based FLEWS, hooters will sound from the Siund dam to Larji as soon as water level increases in the Pin Parvati river. The system will also have provision to broadcast messages through voice.

Om Prakash, a resident of Sainj, said the PHEP-III had installed hooters at some locations downstream, but these provided very small window to people to evacuate in case a large volume of water was released from the dam due to the cloudbursts or heavy rain upstream. The FLEWS will give the people some time so that they can take protective measures.

A sudden release of water level had caused massive damage to property and road in Sainj on July 31. Last year, the Sainj market and other areas adjacent to the river till Larji suffered massive loss due to floods by the Pin Parvati river. Due to the release of water from dams of various hydel projects in the district after rain, heavy damage was caused downstream on July 8, 2023. Many persons were killed and over 200 families were rendered homeless in the Kullu valley, besides hundreds of bighas of arable land was destroyed.

Forest wealth, roads and other infrastructure worth crores were damaged and routine life has not normalised at many places even as over a year has passed since flooding.