Power house flooded

KRISHNARAJA SAGAR DAM SITE: A breach in the "safety barrage" at a private power house located on the northern side of KRS dam, resulted in flooding of adjacent areas on Friday.
The barrage had been constructed to maintain steady flow of water into ducts which, in turn, are connected to turbines. Dam authorities had permitted power plant owners last year to create a sideway from the dam to maintain direct water supply to the new power generation unit, established by Atria Brindavan Mini Hydel power plant.
Water flowing from the dam through this sideway was controlled right at the mouth of two ducts by two power-operated control gates and a downstream safety barrage.
"We have diverted water flowing out of the dam from this sideway into Vishweshwaraiah canal and regulated water flow into the canal directly from the dam," said executive engineer of KRS dam Vijaykumar.
According to authorities, breach in the wall of the safety barrage and simultaneous jamming of the control gates led the water to gush out. The control gates failed due to damage to the power panel connected to the gates following flooding.
Dam authorities blamed the power plant engineers for not taking corrective measures despite being informed about water leakage from the safety barrage over the last couple of days.
However, technical advisor to Atria power generation plant, M S Raghavendra, refuted charges of negligence and said the safety barrage collapsed because land nearby gave away due to heavy rain.
The unit generates power of 12 MW. Trial runs had started on July 11 and the unit was yet to be commissioned. The powerhouse was being fed with 2,000 cusecs of water directly from the dam.
Vijaykumar said they are filling the sideway with boulders and sandbags to construct a "coffer dam" to check the speed of the water gushing out. "It will take a day or two to arrest the water flow."
He added that the CM has given directions to seek expert opinion and prevent further loss of water.