DJ Venkatesh
Diglipur, Oct 21: The Diglipur Island is all set to lose its much awaited 1 MW DG set, proposed to be installed at Power House at Sitanagar, as the Administration has now reportedly decided to shift the I MW DG Set to Panighat area of Mayabunder without even consulting with General Public and PRI members.
Though, in tender documents it was clearly mentioned that the DG set will be installed at Sitanagar Power House of Diglipur but in Agreement the Sitanagar word went missing. However, it is not clear whether the omission was wilful or there is a foul play behind this.
Now it is the buzz in market that the DG set will now be shifted to Panighat area of Mayabunder, where a shed has already been constructed, and this news has left residents of Diglipur fuming.
“This is indeed a shocking. How a DG set, which was tendered for Sitanagar Power house, Diglipur can be transferring to Panighat, Mayabunder. PRI members along with the public will protest this move,” Mr P R Singaram, Pradhan of Subhash Gram, Diglipur told Andaman Sheekha.
There is a move to justify this move by the Electricity Department saying that the Diglipur region already has Kalpong Hydro Electric Project (KHEP) but everybody knows that the KHEP has slowly becoming unreliable, especially during summer season. It is true that during heavy rain Kalpong dam overflows but it is only for few days.
As per the capacity if the KHEP’s power is fully utilized then the water of Kalpong river will dry before January every year. Sources told Andaman Sheekha that out of three Turbines at KHEP, two need urgent repair. Nearly one month back two Turbines were fully down and for this the Electricity Department had to bring experts from Kolkata, who carried out the repair works.
During those days, power had to be drawn from Rangat and Sitanagar areas and there were two hour long rotational power cut in entire Diglipur region and total blackout in some remote rural areas. Thus it is proved that KHEP is highly unreliable.
Experts told Andaman Sheekha that if the power project is shifted to Panighat, Mayabunder then power lines have to travel up to 70 km to Diglipur in case any falling of tree and snapping of power lines or any mechanical failure then fault finding will become extremely difficult in dense forest, which may even take more than 24 hours. This will also mean 24 hour black out in many areas of Diglipur Islands.
Moreover, if the Power Generator is installed at Panighat then Power step-up will have to be made with adding a new transformer to rationalize 33KV generation which is again a heavy expenditure. This is not necessary at Sitanagar Power House.
The Administration must also realise that the age old KHEP badly needs repairs. The additional water breaker is in papers only. The electricity dept. should initiate at least a 5MW power project, which will replace the KHEP in case there is an emergency or power failure.
Residents of Diglipur now demands urgent intervention of the Lt. Governor in this regard so that the IMW DG Set proposed for Diglipur, remains at Sitanagar Power House.
Leave a Reply