The death of three people in a mishap at a hydropower project site in Assam on Saturday could have been the outcome of climate change.
Two employees of the North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO), a central public sector undertaking, and a contractual labourer died after they were trapped under a tree hit by the sudden flooding of the Kopili project in central Assam’s Umrangso.
“I cannot deny the impact of climate change but am not qualified to say anything more,” NEEPCO’s Chairman and Managing Director V.K. Singh said.
He said there was nothing wrong with the temporary protection bund on the Kopili river that was breached, leading to the sudden flooding that damaged a large portion of the hydropower project’s powerhouse.
“The annual maintenance work is carried out during the lean season. We were carrying out the maintenance work as the water level of the Kopili reservoir was way below. But within moments, at 10.30 a.m., the water level rose 12 metres,” Mr. Singh told The Hindu.
The sudden surge of water was attributed to “unseasonal” heavy rainfall in adjoining Meghalaya, about 25 km upstream of the river.
“Even the toughest of concrete barriers would not have withstood the water surge from a steep gradient. The temporary bund was constructed on the basis of 12 years of hydrological data and the repairing protocol follows the same scientific data,” he explained.
The water level of the river has not risen so much so suddenly in more than a decade, he said.
The NEEPCO workers had died on the way to closing a water intake gate. The gate was closed at 10 a.m. on Sunday.
