DAM BURST AT CHUJACHEN HYDRO ELECTRIC POWER PROJECT IN EAST SIKKIM

Flashflood inside tunnel and partial dam burst at Gati Infrastructure’s 99 MW Chujachen hydro project claims ten labourers

Ten labourers working inside a tunnel of the 99 MW Chuchajen hydro electric power project being developed by Gati Infrastructure were killed when water overflowing from the Rongli river flooded the tunnel yesterday night here at Chuchajen in East Sikkim.

A coffer concrete gravity dam being constructed was also partly swept away by the surge on the Rangpo/Rongli river a tributary of the river Teesta being developed by Gati Infrastructure Limited at Lamaten in the vicinity of Chujachen village under Rongli sub division in east Sikkim last night. The coffer dam is coming up at Lamaten, 10 kilometres from Chujachen. The labourers were working on the night shift it has been informed.

According to official reports heavy rains flooded the catchment area with the force of the water flooding into the 120 metre long Adit III tunnel of the power project due to a flash flood triggered by heavy rainfall in the catchment area Tsomgo Lake, the source of Rangpo river, B. K Khabrani, the general manager of the Gati power project said.

Officials inform ten labourers were washed away in the flash flood which occurred at around 9:30 pm yesterday night, the water levels rose alarmingly high over the temporary coffer dam built near the Adit 3 tunnel. The water swelled above the 19 m coffer dam and could not be rapidly discharged by the adjoining diversion tunnel.

Finding no outlet, the water then recoiled back and surged into the Adit 3 tunnel where 18 labourers were engaged in night shit to drill the tunnel. Out of them, 8 were inside the tunnel while ten were outside the tunnel, police officials overseeing the restoration works at the damaged spot informed sources.

The labourers outside the tunnel saw the danger and fled barring two who went inside to alert the 8 others working inside the 1.1 km tunnel. However, none returned back and there is zero possibility that none of the 10 labourers may have survived, admitted the police and the project officials. Whiule the names of the labourers are yet to be revealed it has been learnt that most of them belonged to West Bengal.

Presently the works are on to pump out the water from the Adit 3 tunnel to recover and fish out the bodies. The flash flood also swept away the coffer tunnel along with other
machines and vehicles in the site. 8 persons have died in separate incidents in the project site last year.

This has taken back our project schedule by another 3 months, Khabrani said. he said the damages caused by the flash flood is being assessed and could run into several crores.
“However, at the moment our main focus is to find those inside the tunnel”, he added.
Sub divisional police officer of Rongli, R. K Sundas said that a case has been registered against the project developers. Investigations will be carried out to find out whether any negligence is there on the part of the project developers, he said.

The Chujachen project a run of the river hydroelectric power project is about 60 Kms from Gangtok and has two interconnected reservoirs with an installed capacity of 99MW.
The Rangpo river is a major tributary of the Teesta river. The project has two intakes each with a storage reservoir and headrace tunnel each joining together to a common headrace tunnel, an underground surge shaft, a surface penstock and open air powerhouse with two units and an outdoor switchyard.

The construction of the coffer dam and the tunnels were entrusted to Coastal Energy a construction company by GATI it has been learnt Chief minister Pawan Chamling had laid the foundation Stone for the Chujachen HEPP in February 2007, and speedy implementation of the project was being undertaken by GATI Infrastructure a unit of the
cargo express company and was expected to be completed by the end of this year.

Gati Infrastructure had entered into an agreement with the Sikkim Power Development Corporation (SPDC) Limited, a Government of Sikkim undertaking and Goverment of Sikkim for development and implementation of three hydro projects out of which one of the one is the Chujachen project on a Build, Operate, Own and Transfer (BOOT) arrangement at a cost of Rs. 625 crores. Sikkim was to get 12 per cent free power from the project and was to be transferred back to the state government after 35 years. The project would sell its power at Rs 2.20 a unit via a 132kvA transmission line to be built by the state.

Source: The Telegraph

(The tunnel where the unfortunate incident took place)

(Rescue operation underway)

CONDOLENCE MESSAGE

AFFECTED CITIZENS OF TEESTA

BL house,Gangtok,Sikkim.

Dated: 10th April 2009

PRESS RELEASE

A condolence meeting was held at BL house on the 9^th of April to mourn the sad and untimely demise of Ms Chukie Topden, Shri Tashi Tobden, Shri T W Barfungpa, Mrs Cherryla Namgyal and Prakash Gurung. Prayers were offered for the departed souls by renowned Lepcha Bongthing Ren ST Simick from Kalimpong followed by two minutes of silence.

The meeting was attended By Shri Langsoong Tamsaang, President of All India Indigenous Lepcha Tribe Association (apex body of all Lepcha association in the Darjeeling hills ,Bhutan and Nepal) and senior representatives of the Association, Shri Athup Lepcha, President and executive members of ACT, Gyatso Lepcha, President CLOS, and Members of Sangha of Dzongu. The meeting had put on record that:

“The Tragic accident has snatched away from us the Pillars of Sikkimese society, whose selfless contribution toward the welfare of the down trodden and marginalized sections of Society had contributed tremendously to help them live a life of Dignity and security in their own Homeland. The Lepchas of the world will always remain grateful to Ms Chukie Tobden for her love and selfless support to the aborigines of the sub Himalayan region in their historic struggle against the threat of complete marginalization. Chukiela gave hope and direction to the young Lepchas of Dzongu who had ventured out from their traditional villages to the capital of Sikkim and India to seek justice and protect the cradle of their Civilization. Her Firebrand leadership and images of extreme hardship that she endured will be remembered for all times to come.”

Shri Tashi Tobden personified a Modern intellectual yet deeply Traditional person . His contribution in maintaining the core values of Sikkim and the Sikkimese people can never be replicated. Shri TW Barfungpa, was the pride of Sikkim, the only person who could have been the Union Cabinet Secretary. His tenure in remote North Sikkim as DDO and DC is Legendary and was one of the finest young officers, Due to which the People in North still call him DC Yapla even after many years he had left the region.

Cherryla Namgyal as an officer in the Social Welfare Advisory Board had in her own way helped numerous social organization to make life better for the deprived sections so the society. She was always ready to help and motivate social workers in the state to deliver to the masses the National vision of development and social justice.

The Affected Citizens of Teesta and the Lepchas pray to almighty to give strength to the bereaved families to bear with the irreparable loss and thank them for the continued support they had rendered to the departed souls in their service to Sikkim and humanity”

Tseten Lepcha

Vice-President

ACT