Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Mar 7: A portion of the entrance tunnel of under-construction 240 Mega Watt Uri-II power house near the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri area of North Kashmir’s Baramulla district collapsed yesterday trapping over 100 workers.
The workers, however, came out safely through escape routes of the power house minutes after the collapse. The work on the restoration of the tunnel is going on.
The first unit of the power house, Uri-II is being commissioned shortly either by the end of this month or beginning of next month and it will add another 60 MWs power to the national grid. The power house is being constructed on river Jhelum near the LoC on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road at a cost of Rs 18, 000 crore.
A senior official of the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) told Excelsior that around 15 meters of the entrance tunnel to the power house collapsed yesterday. He said that no one was trapped inside the power house due to collapse of the entrance tunnel and all the workers came out safely through escape routes. “There are four sub-paths and the workers who were in the powerhouse at the time of collapse came out safely through these escape routes”, he added.
The official said that passage to the power house is 150 metres long tunnel with 5 meters width. “Around 15 meters of the tunnel caved in due to seepage of water caused by heavy rains in the area”, he added.
The official said that this portion of the entry tunnel of the power house had been behaving abnormally and it had been treated early as well. “The work to restore this portion of the tunnel is going on and it needs special treatment as the soil and rock at this place is loose”, he added.
The official described the collapse of the portion of the entrance tunnel as geological surprise. “It is an internal slide of rocks and loose soil. There is nothing to worry about”, he added.
However, the villagers of Dardkote, Isham, Chakra in Uri area on the LoC living near the power house today protested in Uri town in front of Sub-District Magistrate Uri, Dr Abdul Aziz. They alleged that the population of around 2500 of these villages face threat from the power house and demanded re-location of these villages.
“Our houses are facing threat from collapsing and we are apprehensive after the collapse of the tunnel. We had already been demanding re-location of the villages. We demand relocation of our villages”, said Nissar Hussain Shah of Dardkote village.
SDM Uri, Dr Aziz told Excelsior that a delegation of villagers apprised him of the collapse of power house tunnel. “I directed them to meet the Executive Director of the NHPC on the issue of the threat to their houses. They will look into the matter”, he added.
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