Sikkim flash floods: Dam, bridge washed away at hydro project

SIKKIM: The dam of India’s second biggest run-of-the-river hydropower project — the 1,200 MW Sikkim Urja or Teesta Urja — and a connecting bridge were swept away by flash floods caused by a breach in Lhonak lake in north-west Sikkim on the intervening night of Tuesday and Wednesday. Sikkim’s biggest project on the Teesta, was built in the Chungthang area of Mangan district at a staggering cost of Rs 25,000 crore.

However, there was a silver lining as the Teesta Low Dam Project Stage IV at Kalijhora remained unscathed, thanks to the timely opening of seven gates. “At 11.58pm on Tuesday, the ITBP informed us about the disaster. Our team rushed to open the gates, but the floodwaters breached the dam before they could reach it. Fourteen members of our team were rescued by 2am on Wednesday,” Sunil Saraogi, executive chairman of Sikkim Urja Limited, said on Thursday.

Sarogi said the project commissioned in 2017 had finally started turning a profit since last year. Shankar Sharma, civil supervisor of the project, said: “I immediately alerted the villagers. No injuries were reported.”

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