At around 3 pm on Sept 4, in a major disaster, water gushed into under repair power house of 12 MW Ajanta hydropower plant on Mahi river near Tatroli village in Mahisagar district of Gujarat. The project is located on Dolatpur weir of Kadana dam on Mahi River, about 20 km downstream of the dam. Out of about 15 workers present, five are missing and so far one dead body have been found on Friday evening. Rest of the workers could escape and save them themselves. The project had faced damaging disaster earlier too. The water seems to have come from the discharge of huge quantity of water from upstream Kadana dam. The project owning company was also involved in the Morbi Bridge disaster earlier.
Search is on for the rest of the missing. The missing persons are: Shailesh Raiji Macchi, Shailesh Raman Macchi, Bharat Akhma Padariya, and Arvind Damor, all residents of Mahisagar district. Mahisagar District Superintendent of Police Safin Hassan said, “With discharge from the Kadana dam (built on Mahi river) on the upstream, water suddenly entered into the well when the workers were inside it for carrying out maintenance.”
He said that 15 workers were on maintenance duty inside a large well in the plant when about 2.5 lakh cusecs water was suddenly released from the upstream Kadana dam. The water rushed into the well, trapping the workers. “It’s almost 60 ft deep, and water is still leaking into it. So pumping out is also not helping,” Mr. Hasan said.
Body of Naresh Solanki was recovered on Friday. He was an electrician from Godhara involved in Gear Box repair along with his colleagues when the disaster struck. Hasan said, “One body has been recovered from inside the powerhouse… Search operations are on to find the remaining workers. There is a possibility that the bodies got washed out but the teams are yet to ascertain that… The probe into what actually happened will begin only when the water recedes… We have come across the previous incident of flooding but it had not caused any casualty although the powerhouse had suffered some damage.”
Bodies of four more persons were recovered on Sept 6. The Mahisagar district police lodged an FIR against employees, officials and contractors of Ajanta Energy Private Limited (AEPL) on the charges of causing death by negligence. Hasan said: “The FIR is for causing death by negligence as the allegation is that the dam authorities had informed the power plant that the big cache of water would be released and the workers should not have been there at that time. Further probe into the matter will be undertaken…” Preliminary inquiry suggests damage to the reservoir wall or its gates may have caused the incident. The plant had been shut for a long period, and the workers were attending to machinery on the reservoir floor when the mishap occurred.
District Collector Arpit Sagar said that a separate probe has been initiated in the matter to ascertain the cause of the tragedy. Sagar said, “I have sought documents from the Kadana Irrigation Department as AEPL had a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the irrigation department for using the water on this part of the dam… The second MoU was signed between AEPL and Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) for sale of electricity generated in the plant”.
A survivor said that the water had gushed in within seconds, turning the entire powerhouse into a watery grave. “There were about 15-16 of us inside the powerhouse. We were preparing for re-installation of gearboxes that were being repaired following a previous damage. There were some contractual workers for pipes and electric work… The entire powerhouse was also being cleaned to prepare for the installation when the tragedy struck. It was about 3pm and we were waiting for our tea when there was a loud sound and all of a sudden, water came gushing in. Whoever grabbed rails and other pipes to climb up managed to survive but there was no sign of the other five persons. At least four of them were very young, in their 20s,” the worker said. The run-of-the-river hydro power plant is operated by AEPL, part of Ajanta-Oreva Group of companies of Morbi.
Lakhanlal Raghuvanshi, Team Commander of the NDRF battalion at the spot, said on Sept 5, “The divers are not able to conduct a smooth operation as there is much turbidity in the water, and also oil… There is very little visibility. We have also deployed the cameras underwater. The divers are also not able to reach the part between the machinery.”
-SANDRP
POST SCRIPT: Sept 14 2025: Govt panel formed to investigate Guj hydro deaths in Mahisagar wont help The Mahisagar district administration has formed a committee to investigate the death of five workers who drowned in a large reservoir at the Ajanta Hydropower Project in Dolatpura village on Sep 4. Mahisagar police registered a case under sections 106 and 125(A) of the Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita for causing death by negligence and committing a negligent act endangering life or personal safety. No arrests have been made so far.
Deputy superintendent of police Kamlesh Vasava said all documents and agreements related to the contract with Ajanta Energy Private Ltd are being collected to determine whether any violations occurred. The committee, headed by the sub-divisional magistrate of Lunawada, includes Vasava, engineers from the Kadana project, officials from the Gujarat Electricity Transmission Company, and other relevant personnel. This will not help. What is required to unearth the truth is an independent committee.
SANDRP 