GUWAHATI: A major landslide damaged six residential houses and a GIS building of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) in Sikkim on Tuesday.
The disaster occurred at the site of NHPC’s 510 MW Teesta-V hydropower station at Dipudara near Singtam town in the Gangtok district. The glacial lake outburst flood of October last year had damaged the power station and it was under construction.
Official sources said major cracks developed along the Singtam-Dikchu road, rendering it inaccessible. The authorities cleared an alternative passage for communication.
Gangtok District Collector Tushar Nikhare, who visited the site along with other officials, told TNIE that the NHPC plant head reported that the GIS building suffered severe damage. An expert team of the NHPC from Delhi will visit the power station to assess the situation and losses and plan remedial works.
“Instructions have been given to the department of mines and geology for carrying out a detailed investigation of landslides and suggest short-term and long-term restoration work,” Nikhare said.
He added that following the evacuation, the affected people had been shifted to an NHPC guest house at Balutar.
The district administration directed the Border Roads Organisation (BRO) to immediately start the restoration work. The BRO assured that the road would be made operational at the earliest.
The NHPC said the area of the Teesta Basin region had been subject to periodic natural subsidence/landslides during the ongoing monsoon season.
“Today’s incident of landslide also occurred due to subsidence/landslide over Tail Race Tunnel (TRT) outlet structure and behind GIS building. This has affected TRT gate hoist structure and part of the GIS building. The power station is currently not operational and undergoing restoration works after flash flood of October 2023,” the NHPC said in a statement.