| Pol Khol -- Electricity from Sardar Sarovar, really? |
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Pol-Khol Electricity SSP Engineers playing game of numbers with electricity. Sinking in the Narmada dam...[audio-visual, 22MB, Windows media file] One would assume that the Sardar Sarovar engineers would be sure about the electricity generated on raising the dam's height to 121.9 mts. On April 2, 2006 in Sunday Express [Reference 1] they claimed that it would generate 3.48 crore units a day. Multiply by 365 and we get a grand total of 12,700 MU a year. This is so absurd that they were immediately challenged by scientific and engineering faculty from IITs, IISc, and even american universities like Yale and University of Maryland. A web-petition hosted at aidindia.org attracted 875 signatures asking them to take back this figure or be responsible for providing the shortfall out of their own pocket. On April 17, 2006 knowingly or unknowingly, they took it back. This time in Indian Express [Reference 2] they claimed that 4000 MU a year will be generated once the dam goes to 121.9 mts. Our nation lost 8700 MU per year of electricity in 2 weeks, thanks to the dam engineers.
The reason why they don't bat an eyelid while they project such incompatable figures is that they don't care how much electricity is generated. It is too small compared to the Rs 21,000 crores they have already spent on the dam and the Rs 20,000 crores they are planning on spending. The don't give a damn about the few hundred crores of electricity that comes off it. What they actually care about is taking the dam to 121.92 mts. For this they need to say that a lot more electricity will be produced at 121.9 mts compared to at 110.6 mts. Doesn't matter how much it actually is. So they went ahead and said on April 17 that of the 4000 MU at 121.9 mts, exactly half, that is 2000 MU are due to the additional construction. That if we left the dam at 110.6 mts we will lose 2000 MU of electricity this coming year. Of course they have no qualms about the 8700 MU that vanished into thin air.
But when they were writing in Indian Express they forgot that they also spoke to NDTV on April 15, 2006 [Refernce 3]. Maybe without their manufactured figures in hand they blurted out the truth. But on NDTV they projected that 550 MU of additional electricity will be produced every year if the dam goes up to 121.9 and the remaining units become operational, as compared to 110.6 mts. NDTV telecasted it to the whole nation and put that up on their web-site as well.
Power is not the reason to take the dam from 110.6 mts to 121.9 mts. In fact there is no reason to take the dam higher today because the irrigation canals are not completed either. CAG has taken Gujarat to task for not using the SSP waters even at the current height. Since there are no reasons, reasons are being invented. Benefits being flashed. Big numbers dimming to small numbers. The nation is being confused. While the stage is readied for 35,000 families to sacrifice. Because rehabilitation wasn't readied for them. That's the real issue. Rest is hog-wash.
--Ravi Kuchimanchi khiyali@gmail.com -------------------
1. http://www.indianexpress.com/iep/sunday/story/1595.html Height of Hurdle, Sunday Express, April 2, 2006: According to executive engineer Ashok Gajjar (inset), a total of 3.48 crore units of power worth Rs. 7 crore would be generated per day once the dam height is raised to 121.92 metres. Annually, that amounts to power worth Rs. 2500 crore. 2. http://www.indianexpress.com/story/2872.html Why Deshmukh's Narmada vote was against his state, Indian Express, April 21, 2006: ''If the dam height remains at 110.64 m, 2,000 million units of power can be generated. But if the height is raised to 121.92 m before the monsoon, power generation can be doubled to 4,000 million units of which Maharashtra would get a 27 per cent share,'' A B Mandaviya, director (civil), of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam, told The Indian Express.
3. http://www.ndtv.com/template/template.asp?fromtimeline=true&id=86923&callid=1&template=narmada PM to decide on Narmada dam, NDTV, April 15, 2006: So far the canal head powerhouse has generated 2300 million units following the raising of height to 110 meters. Engineers say that once the height is raised and the riverbed plant becomes operational, an additional 550 million units will be produced per year. "With the raising of the height by 11 meters we will be able to have an additional storage of 1700 million cubic meters and with this we will be able to have optimum generation of power," said O P Gulati, Chief Engineer, SSNL. |
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