Mandi: Engineers and employees working at operationalizing a new turbine at the Uhal power project had a miraculous escape when the feeder penstock pipeline burst and flooded the hydropower station.
On Saturday night when the engineers were working on the heavy machinery, there was a sudden blast in the penstock pipeline and it burst, said eyewitnesses to the accident. It took a 6 hour rescue operation to rescue the 20 engineers and employees who were working at the station when the accident occurred.
Dinesh Chaudhary, project manager said that the situation was now under control.
Anurag Parashar, deputy director, HP State Electricity Board said, ‘the bursting of penstock pipeline had caused an immense loss at the project site but all engineers and employees working there had been safely evacuated. A fact finding team had been set up to ascertain the cause of the accident and assess the loss, he added.
The 100 MW Uhal hydropower project is owned and operated by the HP State Electricity Board and reports say that the accident occurred when the engineers were testing the installation of a 33.3 MW new turbine at the plant.
A senior journalist who has spent more than a decade in the profession, working for Amar Ujala and Aapka Faisla.
