On shaky ground
Leakage from the tunnel carrying water to Parbati II hydroelectric plant in Kullu is just one way how the project threatens the landslide-prone area
The recent leak at the Parbati II hydroelectric plant in Kullu threatens the fragile ecology of the region
PRITHVI SINGH was half asleep in his house on a mountain slope on the evening of April 13 when he heard a loud rumbling sound and saw the roof develop a crack. There was water seeping out of the floor. Singh ran out of the house with his wife and two children and spent the night on the road. Six other houses in his village, Bhebal, in Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district also developed cracks the same evening.
The landslide was not caused by natural tremors. It was triggered by water that had leaked the previous day during the testing of the head race tunnel (hrt) of the 800 MW Parbati II hydroelectric project. hrt is the tunnel that carries water to a dam’s powerhouse, and the over 30 km Parbati hrt is the longest for any hydropower project in India. It runs from Pulga village to Suind village (see ‘Shaky ground’), near which the powerhouse is located. The tunnel collects water from the Parbati river—a tributary of the Beas—and five perennial streams. The tunnel started leaking in its last stretch, near the powerhouse, when officials released water from just one stream, Jiwa nallah.
The leakage caused thin trails of water at random places in the area and a 500m crack to appear on the mountain above Bhebal. The situation is still precarious because the water that seeped into the mountain is trickling out from various points in the lower parts of the mountain and can cause landslides. Fourteen villages, including Bhebal, that come under the Raila panchayat now face the threat of a landslide.
Slow to react
Residents of Raila panchayat complain that the testing continued for four-five days even after the leakage, but according to Rakesh Sharma, additional deputy commissioner, Kullu, the discharge of water into the tunnel
was stopped two days later. The version of the village residents is likely to be correct because the acknowledgement by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (nhpc) to the media that the water supply has been cut came only on April 17.
nhpc maintains that such incidents are common. “The seepage and cracks are normal. This is why testing is done,” a senior nhpc official told Down To Earth (dte), requesting anonymity. Mansi Asher of Himdhara, a non-profit working on hydrological issues in Himachal Pradesh, adds, “Most of the hydroelectric projects in Himachal are not safe. In this instance, nhpc had released water from just one stream into the tunnel. This is not even 20 per cent of the total water that is supposed to go into it.”
Asher’s point is corroborated if one looks at the sketchy past of hydroelectric projects in the state. In the last five years, hydroelectric projects have recorded 10 major accidents that claimed more than 25 lives and displaced around 100 families. Even in the Parbati II project, while the powerhouse in Suind was being constructed, landslides reduced the structure to rubble twice—in 2004 and 2008. Again, in 2008, a tunnel boring machine got buried in the mountain because the tunnel under construction collapsed.
Wrong assessment
The senior nhpc official dte talked to says that the rock structure in the Parbati II site is such that if you tunnel through the hill, it becomes unstable. Even a 2015 report by the Central Electricity Authority (cea) blames “poor geology” of the hrt area for the problems in the projects. What remains unanswered is why then was the site chosen. A 2012-13 performance report by the Union Ministry of Power says “wrong assessment of land required for the project at dpr [detailed project report] stage” is one of the reasons behind the eight year delay in the project. It was supposed to have been finished in 2009-10 and cost R3,919 crore, but the new deadline, as per the latest September 2016 progress report of cea, is 201819 and the cost has spiralled to R8,398 crore.
The terms of reference or the regulatory guidelines issued by the Central government while granting environmental clearance to a project have also been ignored in the case of Parbati II. This could also have caused the landslides. For instance, the guidelines call for “treatment of the area” to ensure that the ecology is not damaged. While nhpc has done some perfunctory plantation on the dumping site, the tree species chosen is robinia. “This species does not hold the soil or provide fodder,” complains Motiram Katwal, a resident of Raila.
The guidelines also ban blasting for tunnelling through the mountain. This, too, has been flouted. “During construction, nhpc blasted the mountains regularly. The entire area would shake; our houses developed cracks,” says Charan Singh, a resident of Raila village, pointing at the crack in his house. What’s worse, the drains constructed along the roads to channel rainwater runoff open into fields and in the middle of villages. “Before the project started, very few landslides occurred. But now, with the drains discharging water anywhere, the frequency of landslides has increased manifold,” says Katwal.
Rehabilitation uncertain
Now as the water flow is reducing in the cracks, the six displaced families of Bhebal are in a peculiar situation. On April 15, they were shifted to a nearby nhpc building. “Initially, the sub-divisional magistrate of Banjar tehsil said we could stay in the building till our houses are safe. But, now he says we’ll have go back. We do not want to go back,” says Vimla Devi, one of the relocated people. This despite there being no water connection or toilet in the building. “We want nhpc to acquire our land and rehabilitate us elsewhere,” was Vimla Devi’s solution.
If that happens, it wouldn’t be for the first time. The families were shifted to Bhebal from their home in an adjoining village in 2002 to make room for Parbati II.
It is ironic that despite suffering the brunt of construction, the villages in the region do not stand to gain much from the project. Himachal Pradesh is entitled to a mere 1 per cent of the total electricity generated. The power will satiate the needs of Delhi, Punjab, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh. When dte visited Raila, the village had been suffering from a power cut for about a week.
Flouting the guidelines, NHPC blasted the mountain regularly to tunnel through it. What's worse, the drains constructed along the roads to channel rainwater runoff open in the middle of villages, loosening the soil