Swelling up of Sharda river causes shutdown of power plant

Volume of water increases by nearly 10 times

Pithoragarh: Vehicular traffic across the Banbasa bridge on the Sharda river was suspended and a red alert was sounded at the Sharda barrage at Banbasa and the Sharda Chungi colony at Tanakpur. The water level in the Sharda increased 10 times compared to its normal flow on Friday and reached 2,79,780 cusecs Saturday morning.

The water level in the river, which was 26,000 cusecs on Thursday, a day before rains lashed hills and plains in the Kumaon region continuously for 24 hours, started rising on Friday morning and reached 2,25,284 cusecs by noon. The maximum water level reached was around 2,80,000 cusecs resulting in blocking of water flow to the Sharda canal, due to which of power stations at Banbasa and Lohiahead were closed down.