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UBDC hydel channel repair delay: PSPCL losses mount to ₹108 crore
Ongoing generation loss from the August 2025 flood-damaged channel costs Punjab ₹70 lakh daily, exposing a disconnect between official timelines and ground realities
The delayed repair of a major breach in the Upper Bari Doab Canal (UBDC) hydel channel by the Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) has resulted in lost power generation worth ₹108 crore so far.
Damaged during last August’s floods, the channel, located in Gurdaspur district’s Dinanagar, is yet to be fully repaired. As a result, the state continues to lose ₹70 lakh every day in generation loss, even after spending about ₹50 crore on ongoing repair efforts.
When contacted, PSPCL chairman-cum-managing director (CMD) Basant Garg said that he is continuously following up the matter with the water resources department and they have assured early commissioning of the channel. He said he has already written to the water resources department about the exigency of the matter.
In March 2026, then power minister Sanjeev Arora—who was recently arrested by the Enforcement Directorate (ED) on May 9, 2026, in a money-laundering case—had categorically assured that the UBDC would resume generation in the first week of May. Following Arora’s arrest, Tarunpreet Singh Sond took charge of reviewing the state’s power infrastructure, but he has yet to address this issue.
Arora had reiterated the assurance in late April when extensive power cuts were reported across Punjab to upgrade infrastructure. At that time, the ministry reiterated that power cuts would cease from May 1 and that roughly 300 MW of hydel generation, including capacity from the UBDC, would be added to the grid in the first week of May.
Ground realities belie claims
Water resources department sources say that the ground realities at the site do not corroborate official claims. After several repair attempts, the UBDC hydel channel was recently charged, only for a fresh leakage to develop at the shingle ejector. Consequently, the hydel channel has been isolated, and sources say no fresh repairs have even begun at the site.
The crisis dates back to August 25, 2025, when a heavy inflow of trash caused by torrential rains and a massive release of water from the Ranjit Sagar and Shahpur Kandi dams choked UBDC Power House No. 1. To ensure the safety of the hydel channel and its associated structures, the PSPCL authorities closed the UBDC hydel channel gates in coordination with the water resources department.
However, on August 26, 2025, due to the non-opening of the Madhopur headworks gates toward the Ravi river, water discharge grew out of control. Floodwaters overflowed from the control gates and entered the UBDC hydel channel despite its gates being closed. This caused the channel to breach near the silt ejector which sits exactly 10,500 feet downstream from the main Madhopur headworks where the channel begins, leading to floods in the Sujanpur area.
Following the breach, UBDC generation was halted. While PSPCL engineers initially submitted a proposal to undertake emergency repairs, the PSPCL board of directors instead assigned the responsibility to the water resources department, tasking them with restoring the damaged channel up to Power House No. 1 using funds provided by the PSPCL.
Apathy prolongs financial drain
While the water resources department successfully restored the gates of the Madhopur headworks and the coffer dam near the Shahpur Kandi power project, the hydel channel itself has faced a cycle of failed tests.
The department completed its initial repair works, but during testing on November 17, 2025, structural settlement and leakage were observed near the shingle ejector, forcing further repairs. On January 3, 2026, during the next round of testing, leakage occurred again near the silt ejector. The water resources department undertook rectification work for a fortnight, but subsequent testing on January 17 and January 26 revealed that the leakage at the silt ejector persisted.
Due to this prolonged non-restoration, Punjab has suffered a total generation loss of about 215 million units (MU). Factoring in a tariff of ₹5 per unit, this amounts to an estimated financial hit of ₹108 crore, which grows by ₹70 lakh with every passing day.
Insiders blame a deeper administrative malaise for the gridlock. “The PSPCL authorities are not taking the issue seriously enough to expedite the restoration work, which has directly led to these massive losses. Apathy at the government level is also evident, as there is currently no permanent director of generation at PSPCL; the charge has simply been handed over to director of distribution, Inderpal Singh,” an engineer at the power corporation said, requesting anonymity.
