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Rihand dam to be maintained under new safety guidelines, strengthened
U.P. Hydro Power Corporation to seek ₹850 crore from Centre under World Bank-funded Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP Phase II).
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India’s most voluminous Rihand dam that cools a number of coal-fired power plants in the Sonbhadra region of Uttar Pradesh will now be maintained as per the Centre’s new safety guidelines under the World Bank-funded Dam Rehabilitation and Improvement Project (DRIP Phase II).
People aware of the issue said that the U.P. Hydro Power Corporation Ltd, the owner of the Rihand dam, will soon prepare a proposal seeking funds under the DRIP Phase-II from the Central government, apart from chalking out an action plan for strengthening of the dam.
The decision in this regard was taken in a meeting chaired by chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra here on Friday.
“The hydro corporation has been asked to prepare a proposal to seek funds to the tune of ₹850 crore under the DRIP Phase-II and move the same immediately to the Centre’s Jal Shakti ministry for necessary action,” a senior energy department official said.
“Of the total ₹850 crore to be sought from the Centre, ₹650 crore will be spent on desilting the dam and the remaining to carry out other dam strengthening activities,” he added. Under the scheme, 70% of the project cost will be provided by the Centre while 30% will come from the state government as its share.
In order to enhance water security in the country and support sustainable development, the Centre, in August last year, signed a $250 million loan agreement with the World Bank for the second phase of DRIP to make existing dams and communities safe and resilient across India.
Rihand, also known as Govind Ballabh Pant Sagar, is among the several dams incorporated in the new scheme that seeks to strengthen dam safety initiatives through physical rehabilitation of selected dams by addressing various concerns to improve safety and operational performance, institutional strengthening in various ways, incidental revenue generation for sustainable operation and maintenance.
Situated at Pipri in Sonbhadra district, the Rihand dam is primarily used to cool state and private-sector thermal plants with a total capacity of around 20,000 MW (megawatt) in the region, apart from producing around 300 MW hydro power in Obra and Anpara.
According to a NITI Aayog report an average consumptive water requirement of coal-based plants with cooling towers is about 5-7 cubic meters of water per megawatt per hour.
“The Rihand dam is not used for irrigation purposes in U.P. though water released from the Rihand dam is used for irrigation in Bihar and Jharkhand,” another official said.
The ownership of the Rihand dam was transferred to the Hydro Power Corporation, a state-owned entity, in 1964.
“The corporation gives some money annually to the irrigation department for the maintenance of the dam. But the new guidelines under the DRIP Phase-II put the onus of maintaining the dam on the owner of the dam,” the official said.
