(Feature Image: Screenshot of social media video showing flash flood imapct at HCC’s batching plant during intervening night of July 15-16, 2024.)
The batching plant at the controversial under construction Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydro Electric Power (HEP) project site in Uttarakhand has suffered significant damages due to a flash flood incident during the intervening night of July 15-16, 2024. The plant belongs to the Hindustan Construction Company (HCC) and has been set up by the Alaknanda river downstream the dam of 444 Mw HEP project adjacent to it dumping yard at Gulabkoti in Helang area of Joshimath tehsil in Chamoli district.
The video shows flashflood scars all around the batching plant site. (“बैचिंग प्लांट तो गया….आयल के ड्रम वैगरह सब बह चुके…यहाँ पर जो रिपोर्टिंग ऑफिस था उसके अंदर मलबा भरा है…”) “Batching plant is gone… all oil drums are washed away, the cabin of reporting office is filled with muck”, mentions the about two minute long video probably shot in the morning of July 16, 2024.
The video further shows a dumper and a loader machine in damaged conditions and half buried under the muck. The debris have also invaded two big tin shade structures including a cement storage and electrical DG container. (“आप देख सकते हैं कितना नुकसान हुआ है यहाँ पे, पूरा मलबा भरा हुआ है यहाँ पे। …”) “You can see how much damage has taken place here, the muck and debris are filled everywhere” the video reports.
One more important issue highlighted in the video is lack of safety measures for the workers at HEP site. (“इसलिए कहते हैं कि बैचिंग प्लांट और क्रेशर में हमेशा रात को एक गाड़ी चाहिए। ताकि ऊपर से जब भी मलबा आये यहाँ के आदमी सेफ जोन में जा सके लेकिन यहाँ पर ऐसा होता नहीं है। कल अचानक से जब यहाँ पर पानी बढ़ा तो हम लोगों के लिए काफी मुसीबत हो गयी और इसलिए यहाँ से भागना इतना टफ हो गया। अचानक से पानी इतना बढ़ गया कि क्या ही बतायें।“)
“Therefore, we say there must be a vehicle at night-time here to take us to safe zone whenever there are such flash flood incidents. But this is not being done here. When the water level suddenly increased last night, we went through a lot of trouble, and it became difficult to run away. The water increased so much suddenly that we can’t explain”, said probably an affected worker in the latter half of the video while narrating the incident.
In another short video probably recorded in the beginning of deluge spell during night, few workers can be heard screaming in panic informing the seniors and alerting coworkers about the dangerous situation.
(“सर नाला ! बहुत बड़ा नाला आ गया! सर मिलर मुलर सब चले गए मिक्सचर के नीचे! भागो ! भागो भाई लोग भागो ! उधर को निकलो जल्दी जल्दी! सर नाला पूरा इधर को आ गया! बैचिंग प्लांट वाले को बोलो। भागो, भागो!”)
“Sir nullah (flooded stream), a very big nullah has come. Sir miller (a machine) is washed away under the mixture machine! Run brothers run! Take that side! Hurry-up! Sir, entire nullah is diverted to this side! Tell the man at batching plant to flee!”
Indeed, it appears a horrific situation and could have resulted in a big tragedy for workers as revealed in the videos. As per sources, there were more than twenty workers present at the batching plant when the incident took place.
USDMA Clueless about the Incident
When we contacted Ranjit Sinha, Secretary, USDMA, he told us that he has been transferred on July 1 this month and suggested to contact other officials. “I have joined recently and not aware of the incident and cannot comment”, stated Vinod Kumar Suman, the new Secretary Uttarakhand State Disaster Management Authority (USDMA).
As July 17, 2024, was a gazetted holiday, some of the key officials were reportedly on leave. Raj Kumar Negi, Additional CEO (Implementation), USDMA did not respond to phone calls. Finally, an USDMA official on the condition of anonymity stated that USDMA regularly takes meetings with HEP companies regarding disaster preparedness and mitigation. The project operators have their own safety norms and emergency action plans.
“The Vishnugad Pipalkoti HEP has early warning system (EWS). They also get flood alerts from the upstream Tapovan Vishnugad HEP of National Thermal Power Corporation’s (NTPC)” said the official.
It is worth mentioning that the 520 Mw Tapovan Vishnugad HEP itself was affected by a flash flood incident on May 06, 2024 (it was earlier severely damaged by floods in Feb 2021). As per reports the sudden rise in Alaknanda water level washed away temporary embankments being built to protect riverbanks from erosion downstream the project powerhouse site in Animath in Helang.
Following the incident, more than twelve workers at the site had to run to save their lives. Some of project machines were also damaged and trapped in the deluge. This also raises question mark on the efficacy of ‘EWS’ reportedly installed by the NTPC upstream the project area.
Clearly, the USDMA official too was not aware of the incident and initially suggested to contact District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) Chamoli control room. When briefed that it was not a case of floods in Alaknanda river but flash flood due to heavy rainfall at local level severely impacting HCC batching plant, the official wished to get the update on it.
Surprisingly, the DDMA Chamoli control room had no information about the incident. “As per the developer Tehri Hydro Development Corporation Limited (THDCL) it was a case of minor flood. There is not much impact on the batching plant”, said Nand Kishor Joshi, in charge DDMA Chamoli control room.
Meanwhile, after talking to Ajay Verma, AGM, THDCL for Vishnugad Pipalkoti HEP, the USDMA official stated the same thing. “As per THDCL, it was a normal incident at the site and THDCL has restored the situation”, said the USDMA official adding that the site witnessed a similar flash flood last year too.
However, local people said that the flood debris blocked the Badrinath National Highway (NH) 58 running uphill the batching plant site for about ten hours. They feel the HCC plant has suffered losses worth lakhs and clearing the site could take about a week.
Even after seeing the video report, both the officials could not say whether they would independently probe the incident and take any corrective action. Further both suggested us to contact THDCL official for more details.
The District Magistrate (DM) Chamoli who is also head of DDMA, did not respond to phone call. When contacted Chandra Shekhar Vashishth, SDM Joshimath said, “I am not aware about it. There are some old flash flood videos viral on social media. I will inquiry into this incident.”
THDCL Underplaying Disaster Threats
Despite attempts Ajay Verma, AGM for the project did not respond to phone calls while P.S. Rawat, AGM for Vishnugad Pipalkoti HEP Dam, denied the flash flood incident impacting the batching plant and causing any safety risks for the workers.
“THDCL is fully equipped with safety measures to deal with emergency situations. I was present at the site. The flash flood was result of about four hours long heavy rainfall”, stated P.S. Rawat adding that the site is vulnerable, and a power sub-station was damaged at the site last year.
Indeed, Joshimath and Pipalkoti area witnessed excessive rainfall spells on intervening night of August 13-14, 2023, causing damages to private properties and public infrastructures in addition to flooding Vishnugad Pipalkoti TBM site and damaging Birahiganga HEP project. However, the local media did not cover the damages in detail like is the case with this flash flood incident now damaging the HCC’s batching plant.
As per P.S. Rawat the HCC’s batching plant was flooded due to reactivation of Pagnau nullah. “Pagnau is uphill village. It is affected by landslide disaster and listed for rehabilitation by district administration. There are two nullahs Gulabkoti and Pagnau which are part of drainage system. The Gulabkoti nullah joins Alaknanda close to the muck dumping site of the project. The Pagnau nullahs was closed for past many years. But the construction activities including of a road has reactivated the nullah which has been flooding the project site for past two years”, explained P.S. Rawat.
He further stated that the road construction debris were dumped in the Pagnau nullah which was already full of debris. On the question of remedy, P.S. Rawat said that THDCL will undertake the treatment of the nullah. He also wants local panchayat to take initiative in the matter.
In addition to these factors, it appears the main reason behind the repeated flood damages at the site is on account of complete blockage of Pagnau and Golabkoti nullahs by muck dumping and building of a project approach road by the developer as shown clearly in Google Earth image. And THDCL must be held accountable for disregarding and damaging the natural drainage system.
Concerns over Disaster Monitoring & Mitigation
Shockingly, the entire USDMA system at state and district level have no information and report about the incident even after 48 hours since the incident. The Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami is himself chairperson of USDMA.
Moreover, the responses of USDMA and DDMA officials indicate serious flaws in information collection process. Generally, the local revenue official is supposed to report disaster incidents to DDMA. In this case the revenue official seems totally relying on the THDCL, which is clearly presenting the basic information misleadingly, resulting in absence of any official report. The revenue officials must have other sources of information, including local people and the workers.
This incident also reveals glaring gaps in DDMA’s disaster monitoring mechanism. Further, USDMA has no policy or guidelines in place for disaster monitoring and mitigation related to the under construction HEP projects.
As usual THDCL has so far not put any official information about the incident in public domain. It is aware of threats from debris in Pagnau nullah and in fact has earlier suffered flash flood damages in August 2023 and July 2024 but still appears in denial mode and taking no preventive actions.
Though the USDMA system appear in slumber and THDCL is seemingly underplaying the disaster threats, experts and activists are worried about safety of local people and public properties.
According to Ravi Chopra a leading scientist, there is lack of seriousness in the monitoring of disaster incidents in the state endangering the lives of local people and mountain eco-system.
“During ground visits to various dam sites after 2013 flood disaster, we found many projects including Tehri dam lacking any warming system. Similarly, our team observed rampant violations of muck dumping norms during the construction of Char Dham All Weather Road Project”, says Ravi Chopra who headed two separate Supreme Court appointed committees formed to investigate Kedarnath disaster and Char Dham All Weather Road Project.
As per him, only community led movements can bring a change in government approach. “While the project developers openly violate the environmental laws, the concerned government departments lack resources to monitor and make them accountable as happening in the case of disasters at Vishnugad Pipalkoti HEP project site”, says Ravi Chopra.
“Multiple times I have highlighted the gross violation of muck dumping and blasting norms in the Vishnugad Pipalkoti HEP project. The project area has suffered flood damages twice. But the developer THDCL and contractors are continuously violating the norms and ignoring the threats which can result in a big disaster in future”, says Prem Peeram an activist concerned about Himalayan environment and rivers.
Warning about a potential disaster risk, Atul Sati activist leading Joshimath Bachao Sanghrash Samiti movement said that there are debris in huge amount in Pagnau nullah which will flow down in the event of heavy rains and create flood disaster for the village, Badrinath NH and Vishnugad Pipalkoti HEP project.
“This has already happened last year, this year and is bound to happen again” said Atul Sati adding that given the apparent disaster threats the district administration, THDCL and USDMA must initiate mitigatory measures on urgent basis.
Bhim Singh Rawat (bhim.sandrp@gmail.com)
SANDRP 