Joshimath Sinking: NTPC says tunnel one km away from city, 1.1 km under floor
5 min readBy PTI
NEW DELHI: A 12-kilometer lengthy tunnel linked to the Tapovan Vishnugad hydroelectric challenge is 1 kilometers away from Joshimath city and no less than a kilometer under the bottom, state-owned NTPC has instructed the facility ministry explaining its challenge has no function within the subsidence of the area.
An obvious sinking of land is being blamed for cracks growing in a whole bunch of homes and buildings in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath — a city of 17,000 individuals which is a gateway to Hindu and Sikh shrines and in addition attracts trekkers in components of the Himalayas.
On January 10, the Union Power Ministry summoned NTPC officers to evaluation the subsidence incident in Joshimath.
A day later, India’s largest electricity-generating firm wrote to the ministry explaining its place.
A head hint tunnel (HRT), which connects water consumption on the dam website to the powerhouse for era of the Tapovan Vishnugad hydro electrical energy challenge, “is not passing under Joshimath town,” it wrote.
“The tunnel is at a horizontal distance of around 1.1 km away from the outer boundary of Joshimath town and vertically around 1.1 km below the ground level,” NPTC wrote within the letter, a replica of which was reviewed by PTI.
Stating that land subsidence in Joshimath is a really outdated challenge with first observance relationship again to 1976, NTPC citing a state government-appointed M C Mishra Committee of that yr blaming “hill wash, natural angle of repose, cultivation area because of seepage and soil erosion” for the subsidence/cracks.
The development work of 4×130 MW Tapovan Vishnugad challenge began in November 2006.
The challenge consists of the development of a concrete at Tapovan (15 km upstream of Joshimath city).The challenge was to be accomplished in March 2013 however virtually 10 years later, it’s nonetheless ‘beneath development’.
The challenge has additionally undergone a significant price escalation from the preliminary permitted funding of Rs 2,978.5 crore to now an anticipated Rs 7,103 crore.
“Construction of the tunnel in this stretch has been done through Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) which causes no disturbance to the surrounding rock mass,” NTPC mentioned.
ALSO READ| Joshimath catastrophe a results of deliberate negligence
The firm mentioned in the course of the development of the tunnel, locals had raised considerations in regards to the drying of the water desk sooner or later within the Selong space, which is about 6 km away from Joshimath Town.
An knowledgeable committee was constituted by DM Chamoli which in August 2010 concluded that “there is no ground evidence of any instability induced by HRT excavation using TBM.”
“Construction of the tunnel in this stretch (more than 1 km away from Joshimath town) was completed in August 2011,” NTPC mentioned including development of the tunnel in rock mass at a depth of round 1 km causes no influence on the floor floor together with natural world.
“There are no signs of sinking around the tunnel alignment at the overground surface,” it mentioned, including footage of the area.
Due to persevering with subsidence in Joshimath city, one other committee was constituted by DM (Chamoli) in August 2022.
The panel, NPTC mentioned, acknowledged energy sewerage, rain and family waste water seeping under floor, erosion as a consequence of floods and subsurface seepage have been potential causes of subsidence in Joshimath city and the encompassing space.
NTPC additionally instructed the facility ministry that there was no lively development work taking place within the space for about two years.
The state authorities has begun demolishing unsafe buildings within the city and a few residents have been relocated to secure locations.
NEW DELHI: A 12-kilometer lengthy tunnel linked to the Tapovan Vishnugad hydroelectric challenge is 1 kilometers away from Joshimath city and no less than a kilometer under the bottom, state-owned NTPC has instructed the facility ministry explaining its challenge has no function within the subsidence of the area.
An obvious sinking of land is being blamed for cracks growing in a whole bunch of homes and buildings in Uttarakhand’s Joshimath — a city of 17,000 individuals which is a gateway to Hindu and Sikh shrines and in addition attracts trekkers in components of the Himalayas.
On January 10, the Union Power Ministry summoned NTPC officers to evaluation the subsidence incident in Joshimath.
A day later, India’s largest electricity-generating firm wrote to the ministry explaining its place.
A head hint tunnel (HRT), which connects water consumption on the dam website to the powerhouse for era of the Tapovan Vishnugad hydro electrical energy challenge, “is not passing under Joshimath town,” it wrote.
“The tunnel is at a horizontal distance of around 1.1 km away from the outer boundary of Joshimath town and vertically around 1.1 km below the ground level,” NPTC wrote within the letter, a replica of which was reviewed by PTI.
Stating that land subsidence in Joshimath is a really outdated challenge with first observance relationship again to 1976, NTPC citing a state government-appointed M C Mishra Committee of that yr blaming “hill wash, natural angle of repose, cultivation area because of seepage and soil erosion” for the subsidence/cracks.
The development work of 4×130 MW Tapovan Vishnugad challenge began in November 2006.
The challenge consists of the development of a concrete at Tapovan (15 km upstream of Joshimath city).The challenge was to be accomplished in March 2013 however virtually 10 years later, it’s nonetheless ‘beneath development’.
The challenge has additionally undergone a significant price escalation from the preliminary permitted funding of Rs 2,978.5 crore to now an anticipated Rs 7,103 crore.
“Construction of the tunnel in this stretch has been done through Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) which causes no disturbance to the surrounding rock mass,” NTPC mentioned.
ALSO READ| Joshimath catastrophe a results of deliberate negligence
The firm mentioned in the course of the development of the tunnel, locals had raised considerations in regards to the drying of the water desk sooner or later within the Selong space, which is about 6 km away from Joshimath Town.
An knowledgeable committee was constituted by DM Chamoli which in August 2010 concluded that “there is no ground evidence of any instability induced by HRT excavation using TBM.”
“Construction of the tunnel in this stretch (more than 1 km away from Joshimath town) was completed in August 2011,” NTPC mentioned including development of the tunnel in rock mass at a depth of round 1 km causes no influence on the floor floor together with natural world.
“There are no signs of sinking around the tunnel alignment at the overground surface,” it mentioned, including footage of the area.
Due to persevering with subsidence in Joshimath city, one other committee was constituted by DM (Chamoli) in August 2022.
The panel, NPTC mentioned, acknowledged energy sewerage, rain and family waste water seeping under floor, erosion as a consequence of floods and subsurface seepage have been potential causes of subsidence in Joshimath city and the encompassing space.
NTPC additionally instructed the facility ministry that there was no lively development work taking place within the space for about two years.
The state authorities has begun demolishing unsafe buildings within the city and a few residents have been relocated to secure locations.
