Water leakage from Parbati tunnel worries villagers

Dipender Manta

Tribune News Service

Kullu, April 14

Water leakage from the tunnel of Parbati Project-II is giving jitters to residents of Rella panchayat falling under Banjar constituency in Kullu district. The residents are worried as the leakage may pose threat to the villages coming under it if preventive measures not taken in time.

Talking to The Tribune here today, former Gram Panchayat Pradhan Pritam Singh said the water leakage was occurring in huge volume near Riena village under Rella panchayat, around 2.5 km from the project tunnel. The tunnel was leaking at several points posing threat to the habitats falling under the area.

“The area was quite fragile and constant seepage of water may lead massive landslide, which will damage the habitats of around five villages like Rella, Dahra, Khadoa, Jeeva and two other. We have informed the project authority to look into the matter and take necessary steps”, he remarked.

People alleged that the use of substandard material for the construction of tunnel is the major cause of the seepage, which also occurred earlier. They demand immediate action to avoid any danger to the people.

Chief Engineer of Parbati Project Stage-2 SK Yadav said, “The authority got information from people today. I have visited the spot along with other project officials to assess the situation. We are maintaining a close vigil and necessary steps will be taken to sort out the problem.”

Water was inserted in the main tunnel of the project under the supervision of top NHPC officials to start a turbine for electricity generation. The leakage in the tunnel started even before the power production started.

When contacted, Deputy Commissioner Kullu Yunus Khan said, “I had yet not received any information from people but I will ask the project authority to look in to the matter to resolve the problem, if any”.