Palampur: Water, power supply restored in Multhan after three days

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, May 13

The administration today restored power and water supply in Multhan village, 65 km from here, thee days after the bursting of the penstock of the 25-MW Kundah Pumped (KU) Hydropower Project caused extensive damage in the area.

It is also working round the clock to remove the debris from roads and others areas and might take two to three days to clear the area.

Baijnath SDM DC Thakur, who is camping at Multhan along with other government officials, is supervising the relief and rescue operations for three days. He said many houses and shops had been buried under 2-3 ft silt.

“JCB machines cannot be used to remove silt as they might cause further damage to buildings,” the SDM said, adding that officials of the power company had been extending full cooperation. They visited the affected areas along with the civil administration officials and took stock of the situation.

The SDM said his team was preparing a inventory of losses, which was in the final stage and it would be submitted to the company at the earliest so that the affected people could get compensation for the damage caused to their houses and shops.

He said many houses had also developed cracks and the administration was seeking advice from experts to repair the same.

Meanwhile, residents of Chhota Bhangal today appealed to the Chief Minister to impose a complete ban on hydel projects in the area. They said it was on record that power companies had played havoc with nature, destroyed green forests and violated the environment laws. Besides, they have dumped debris on private land. They added that the state government should also ensure that no panchayat grants NOC to power companies to install new projects in the Chhota Bhangal area without holding an open house. The residents also aired their concerns with the Baijnath SDM.