A landslide incident has partially damaged the power house tunnel of NHCP’s Dhauliganga HEP in Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. The incident occurred in the evening of Aug 30, 2025 after heavy rainfall also blocked the mouth of underground tunnel with rocks and debris. The HEP is built on Dhauliganga river in Dharchula tehsil of the district.
About 19 workers of the project were trapped inside the tunnel due to the incident. A trapped worker recorded this video showing impact of landslide inside the tunnel stating that, ये लैंटर टूट गया सर ये, लैंटर टूट के बेहाल हो गया। हमारी फायर फाइटिंग लाइन भी जाने वाली है। और यहाँ पूरा स्लाइडिंग हो रखा है। अंदर फसने के चान्सेस ज्यादा हो रखे हैं। और इस छत के ऊपर बहुत बड़ा पत्थर है सर। और यहाँ पूरा डैमेज कर दिया है।“
“The ceiling has broken badly, Sir. Our fire-fighting line is about to go. And there is complete sliding here. There are more chances of being trapped inside. And there is a huge rock on the roof of the tunnel. There is full so much damage inside.”
Another video by a staff shows big rocks tumbling down from hill slope above the power house tunnel site of the project. The person in the video is heard saying, “Blow the whistle. You don’t remember anything. (Whistling goes for some times amid an unclear announcement on the siren) There is big landslide here. It seems tunnel’s emergency way is totally closed.”
In a day long rescue operation on Aug 31 the district administration along with a team of CISF, NDRF, BRO managed to evacuate 8 of the trapped workers. In a statement in the evening of Aug 31, Vinod Goswami, District Magistrate stated that following a big landslide occurred at the project site, the administration has removed debris from tunnel’s mouth and emergency shaft area. Rescue operation to save 11 remaining workers is going on and the situation is normal presently.
The details of rescued workers can be seen here. Though, the NHPC has made no statement on the incident, Jitendra Verma, SDM, Dharchula stated that there is no major damage to the project.
When contacted in the morning of Sept, 01, Vinod Kumar Suman, Secretary, Disaster Management Uttarakhand stated that 8 workers have been rescued after the incident and the remaining 11 workers are out of danger and will stay inside the tunnel to operate the plant. He also stated that they have been provided with food and other required arrangements and the situation is under control there.
Dhauliganga HEP: The 280 Mw (70X4) HEP is built and operated by NHPC. Construction of the project with 56 meter high concrete rockfill dam started in 2000 and it was commissioned in Nov 2005. The dam is 270 meter in length with 1345 meter as Full Reservoir Level. The horse shoe shaped head race tunnel is 5.4 km long with 6.5 m diameter while the tail race tunnel is 445 meter long with 6 m diameter. The other technical features of the project can be seen here.
The project dam known as Chirkila dam is located near Garguwa village on Dhauliganga river which joins Kali river at Tawaghat about 5km downstream of the Chirkila dam site. The power station of the project is located on right bank of Kali river near Jumma village. The power station dumps Dhauliganga flows into Elagaad (Kulagad) a local stream merging into Kali river just 100 meter downstream. The project properties have been affected by flash flood disaster in September 2021 and also during June 2013 Uttarakhand Flood Disaster.
SANDRP
SANDRP 