In a dam induced tragedy, six people died, of them four bodies have been found and two more are being searched for. This happened after gates of the Markonahalli dam across Shimsha river (a 221 km long tributary of Cauvery River) in Mandya district in Karnataka suddenly opened on Oct 7 at around 3.30 pm. The tragedy occurred in a village near Yadiyur in Kunigal taluk of Tumakuru district on the border of Tumakuru and Mandya districts, about 100 km from Bengaluru. The Hindu reported earlier in Oct 2000 that the dam gates are poorly maintained.
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July 2023 Bhutan Hydro Project Disaster: 23 Dead and missing
At least seven people were killed and 16 others missing in Bhutan after flash floods and landslides triggered by heavy rains washed away a section of a hydroelectric plant on July 20 2023[i]. They were washed away by the sudden burst at the residential area next to the worksite at Ungar village, according to a press release from the Prime Minister’s Office. Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering, who is in Lhuentse, said the devastating flashflood presented one of the biggest loss of lives and properties in recent memory, and shook the core of the nation.
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Sikkim HC Order on Public Safety at Hydropower projects
Sikkim High Court Order on Dec 5, 2022 in the matter of death of two persons on May 23 2020 due to drowning following sudden release of water from a private hydropower project flags very important lessons that are relevant for all hydropower projects in India.[i]
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MAJOR DISASTER AGAIN AT KOPILI DAM OF NEEPCO IN ASSAM IN 2022
The 275 MW Kopili Hydropower Dam of NEEPCO (a Union Power Ministry organisation, now under NTPC) has again faced a major disaster on Saturday, March 26, 2022. Earlier, the same project had suffered disaster in October 2019.[i]
The penstock pipe that takes water at high flow rates and speed from the Umrangso dam to the hydropower house burst during early hours of Saturday in Assam’s Dima Hasao (earlier called North Cachar Hill) district. A large portion of the Kopili Hydro Electric Plant was also inundated.[ii] At least three employees of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation Limited (NEEPCO) who were present at the site were killed in the mishap.
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Deaths and disaster at NHPC’s Parbati-II Hydro project
In a tragic incident, 4 labourers were killed and one was injured after part of an under construction tunnel of NHPC’s Parbati-2 hydropower project collapsed on Friday evening around 4.30 pm, May 21, 2021[i]. This happened at Pancha Nalla in the Garsa (Bhuntar) Valley of Himachal Pradesh’s Kullu district[ii]. The accident happened when the labourers were doing drilling work in the 600m-long diversion tunnel (a sub tunnel of the main 31.52 km long tunnel[iii]). The whole area, where drilling was underway, collapsed. Four bodies were found buried under the debris. This description possibly shows signs of neglect of NHPC and the contractors.[iv]
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SANDRP 