Punjab: Upper Bari Doab Canal hydel channel closure costs PSPCL Rs 22 cr monthly
Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) is incurring a loss of about Rs 70 lakh per day as power generation from the Upper Bari Doab Canal hydel channel remains suspended for seven months.
Officials said the state was losing Rs 20-22 crore monthly, with total generation loss reaching 180 million units so far. Generation was halted in August after floods damaged gates at Madhopur headworks and breached the hydel channel.
Repair work was assigned to the Water Resources Department in September 2025, but restoration remains incomplete.
According to information available with The Tribune, the tests conducted on November 17, 2025; January 3, 2026; January 17, 2026; and January 29, 2026, the water leakage was observed at the silt ejector. “The PSPCL has already spent Rs 25.50 crore on getting the channel restored. This is over and above the generation loss suffered by the power utility,” said a senior officer.
Recently, the Administrative Secretary (Power) Basant Garg wrote a letter to Principal Secretary (Water resources) Krishan Kumar asking him to expedite the work so that power generation could be restored.
Power Minister Sanjeev Arora told The Tribune that the tunnel of the silt ejector would be repaired by coming Monday. “I am personally monitoring the work and power generation should resume by first week of May,” he added.
