Water level in rivers, dams goes down
Arvind Sharma
Jammu Tawi, Jan 13: The power production in almost all the hydel power projects of the Union Territory (UT) of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) has dropped to almost more than 25% as the water level in all the rivers has come down due to less rainfall thus resulting in low water level in rivers and thus resulting in low power production.
This deficit rainfall has resulted in less power generation, thus forcing the authorities to resort to power cuts both in Jammu and Srinagar in this peak season, sources said.
“We are facing this problem of less power generation as against the required in this peak winter season due to less rainfall which has resulted in dip of water level in almost all the rivers of J&K and low water level in the dams,” a senior PDD official, informed Northlines, while wishing anonymity ,
He said that the situation has forced the department to resort to power curtailments.
It may be mentioned that the metered areas of both Jammu and Kashmir are being subjected to power cuts but the rural areas have been facing the brunt, where the power cuts are more than 4-5 hours a day.
The worrying aspect in this scenario is that most of the solar plants in J&K have also almost become ineffective in this peak winter season as sun is almost non visible.
All the hydel power projects like Salal, Baghlihar 1-2, Sewa 1-2 and other major projects are not producing the required power, sources said. The Baghlihar power project has a total capacity of 900 MW but at present it has been producing a power of around 150-200 MW, which is far beyond its capacity.
Similar is the case with other hydel projects in J&K which have not been able to produce power upto their capacity due to low water level in the rivers and also in the various dams of J&K, sources said.
