A bulldozer clears debris at the Teesta Low Dam IV site in Kalijhora. Picture by Kundan Yolmo

Kalimpong, May 27: The swelling river waters have caused immense damage to stages III and IV of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation’s under-construction Teesta Low Dam Project (TLDP).

Between the two projects, the TLDP IV at Kalijhora has been hit worst by heavy rain induced by Cyclone Aila. NHPC officials said permanent constructions like powerhouse and dam and heavy machinery have been destroyed at Stage IV on the Teesta.

At Reang, where Stage III is located, it was temporary constructions that had borne the brunt of the rising river.

While the distance to Reang from here is about 25km, Kalijhora is further 15km away.

S.K. Modhak, the project manager of Hindustan Construction Company, which is executing the civil construction at Stage IV, said his area of operation alone had suffered a direct loss of Rs 20 crore and a indirect loss of Rs 35 crore after the Teesta had submerged a large portion of the site.

Modhak said the project, which was to have been commissioned by December 2010, had been pushed back by at least six months, if no other I impediment was caused to the work by rains. “The construction was designed to handle 5,000 cusec of water, but the volume of water rose to as high as 10,000 cusec in the past few days.”

The gushing waters swept away a Bailey bridge and caused extensive damage to the slopes on either bank of the river at Stage IV. “The water that has entered the dam and power house will have to be pumped out and the accumulated slush removed,” he said.