T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y January 7, 1961

Beas-Sutlej Power Complex P U N J A B is threatened w i t h acute

power shortage once again. The current flow in the Sutlej is so poor that i t is feared that if the Bhakra reservoir is not replenished in t ime, its water level may soon fal l below the penstock gates. This w i l l put the newly-commissioned uni t of the Left Bank Power House out of act ion. A cut in power consumption of 10 per cent has, therefore, been imposed from mid-December. I t is against this background of addi­t ional power load continually out­pacing addi t ional power supply that-the proposed Beas Scheme has to be viewed.

The Beas project w i l l consist of two units. The first of these, the Beas-Sutlej L i n k envisages the con­struct ion of a darn at Pandoh in K u l u Valley to divert the waters of the r iver Beas to the Bhakra reser­voi r t h rough tunnels and open con­duits. The ' l i n k ' w i l l consist of the 5-mile Pandoh-Suketi tunnel, the 14-mile Suketi Val ley hydel channel and, f inally, the 9-mile Suketi-Dehar tunnel. ft w i l l have a natural fa l l of 1,000 feet at Debar where a power plant w i l l be installed. The m i n i m u m flow through the ' l ink' w i l l be 7,500 cusecs. except du r ing the dry months .when il w i l l be 1,800 eusecs. The power plant at Dehar w i l l supply about 600 mW of f i rm power. Further, the conduct ion of Mink' w i l l ease pressure on the Gobind Sagar and therefore, make possible addi t ional power generation al Bharka and extension of i r r i ga t ion facilities to Southern Punjab.

Long-term Project

Pre l iminary work on this part of the Beas Scheme was scheduled to begin in 1960-61 w i t h an allocation of Rs 50 lakhs. Out of the total cost of Rs 80 crores, Rs 13.5 crores ( i nc lud ing Rs 7 crores in foreign exchange) w i l l be incurred d u r i n g the t h i r d Plan.

The second par t of the Beas pro­ject w i l l cover a 325-feet h igh earth and rock fill dam at Pong in Kangra Dis t r ic t w i t h a ' l i ve ' storage capa­city of 5.55 m i l l i o n acre-feet and a power house w i t h a capacity of 122 mW of firm power at 100 per cent load factor. Water stored in the dam w i l l be released to the Rajasthan Canal and the S i r h i n d

Feeder du r ing the winter months. Construction of the dam w i l l be undertaken j o i n t l y by Rajasthan and Punjab and its i r r i ga t i on be­nefits w i l l accrue mainly to the for­mer while Punjab w i l l benefit chiefly f r o m the new power generated. A detailed project report fo r this un i t has been prepared and the total cost is estimated at Rs 87 crores of which Rajasthan w i l l meet about Rs. 70 crores. A sum of Rs 60 lakhs is expected to be spent du r ing 1060-61 on p re l imina ry work. The t h i r d Plan includes an allocation of Rs 10.1 crores. i nc lud ing Rs 12.38 crores in foreign exchange for this part of the project. It must he noted, however, that though tin-t h i rd Plan contains a sizeable alto-cation for both units of the project, no benefits are l ikely to accrue du r ing this per iod.

Power from Bhakra

The overall feasibili ty of the two-unit Beas project has been estab­lished. But in view of the fact that the Pong Dam lies in a seismic area, the axis on which its founda­tions w i l l rest remains to be ascer­tained. For this purpose a tunnel is proposed to be dug below the river bed at Pong. The General Manager of the Bhakra project has been given charge of the Beas pro­ject and so the transfer of men and equipment f rom Bhakra to the new sites w i l l be faci l i ta ted. The control and supervision of the Beas project is l ike ly to he entrusted to an auto nomous hoard w i t h representatives of the Central Government and the two State Governments associated w i t h the project. The Uni ted States and the W o r l d Bank have offered $33 m i l l i o n and $23 m i l l i o n res­pectively as loans to meet the foreign exchange costs of the pro­j e c t

The Beas project w i l l in due course be dovetailed to the Bhakra system to become one of the largest power systems in the w o r l d . The Bhakra system itself is made up of two units—the Bhakra Dam proper and the power stations on the Nan-gal Hydel channel at Kotla and Ganguwal which have an installed eapacitv of 48 mW each. An addi­t ional uni t with a capacity of 20 mW

is being installed at both Kot la and Ganguwal. These units w i l l he ready by March and June 1961 respectives

But the much bigger power gene­rat ing units are at Bhakra. The Left Bank Power House, the first unit of which was commissioned in Novem­ber last, w i l l have five generating units of S3 to 00 mW capacity each, depending on the water level in the reservoir. A l l these units are expected to be commissioned dur­ing 1961. Only four of them, how­ever, w i l l work at a l ime and so the f i rm power capacity of the Power House w i l l he 212 mW in al l .

The Right Bank Power House of the Bhakra Project is estimated to cost Rs. 26.4-3 crores of which Pun­jab w i l l contribute about Rs 21 crores. Dur ing the t h i rd Plan a total of Rs. 21.11 crores w i l l be spent on it. wi th Punjab contribut­ing 18.71 crores. W i t h the con­struction of this Power House, the total cost of the Bhakra-Nangal Project w i l l come to Rs 196.43 crores of which Rs 96.66 crores w i l l be accounted for by power schemes. In i t i a l l y four units of 70 to 120 mW capacity each wi l l be installed and a f i f th wi l l be added later when the Beas-Sutlej "link' is completed.

Thermal and Diesel Units

The entire power complex can. however, be put out of gear if rain­fall is inadequate or late, Except when rainfal l is so poor that the water level in the reservoir falls be­low the penstocks, the working head available at Bhakra w i l l vary from 268 feet in May-June to 512 feet immediately after the monsoons in October. Now, the same quantity of water can generate more power if released f rom a higher head than f rom a lower head or, conversely, to venerate a given quanti ty of power more water has to be released from a lower head than f rom a higher one. Water level being high dur ing October-November less water w i l l have to be. released to generate power. Dur ing this period, however. more water has to be released for Rabi sowing and so the advantage of the h igh water level for power generation may not be ful ly realised in practice.

Letter from Punjab

15

January 7, 1961 T H E E C O N O M I C W E E K L Y

A p a r t f r o m this difficulty, w h i c h is characteristic of a l l Bhakra- type mul t i -purpose projects i n I n d i a , there is the fur ther uncertainty about r a i n f a l l . However, i t is pro­posed to firm up Bhakra hydro-power w i t h thermal and diesel sets. A nucleus one-unit scheme w i t h a capacity of 50 mW is to be in i t i a ted near D e l h i . Smal l diesel stations w i t h capacity up to 25 mW w i l l be set up at var ious load centres l ike Chandigarh , Sangrur , etc at a to ta l cost of Rs 2 crores.

Seasonal Load V a r i a t i o n in water level introduces

the p rob lem of developing adequate seasonal power load . Since, as mentioned above, water level in the Bhakra reservoir w i l l va ry f r o m about 270 feet in May-June to about 510 feet in October, genera­t i o n of secondary power above the f i rm capacity w i l l be possible on ly for 6 to 8 months f r o m October. Seasonal industries must,, therefore, be started to consume this second­ary power w h i c h w i l l not be avai l ­able a l l th rough the year. Cane crushing, cotton g inn ing , and pro­cessing of ag r i cu l tu ra l produce in general are some such industries.

Load centres in Punjab are grow­ing r a p i d l y . Besides, D e l h i w h i c h now consumes for 60 mW of Bhakra power, w i l l take away another 40 mW of the power generated by the Right Bank Power House. At the same t ime a l l towns w i t h a popula­t ion of 10,000 and over have been electrified. F ina l ly , of the 20,000 villages in Punjab , 3,000 are to be electrified by the end of the second Plan and another 3,000 d u r i n g the t h i r d P lan . As against this r a p i d g r o w t h im load , targets of increase in power generat ion are as fo l lows:

Ins ta l led F i r m ( i n m W )

Firs t Plan 96 84 Second Plan 652 373 T h i r d Plan 1229 680

The present power shortage may not be relieved t i l l mid-1961 when the new uni ts at K o t l a and Gangu-wal are com missioned. Even this add i t ion to capacity is l ike ly to be soon outs t r ipped by increase in load. U l t i m a t e l y , Punjab can expect to have a sound power base only when the Righ t Bank Power House is commissioned by 1964-65. The Beas Scheme, as ment ioned above, is a long-term project , In the mean­t ime, extension of the o ld U h l River ( Jogindernagar) Scheme, exploita­

t i on of the power potential of the water fal ls in Uppe r B a r i Doab and Western Jamuna Canals and the i n ­stallation of thermal and diesel sets, discussed above, are expected to alleviate the power shortage in the State.

was 369,072 metr ic tons, according

to the I n d i a n Bureau of Mines. Th i s

represents an increase of about 9 per

cent as compared to the output of

338,512 metr ic tons in the correspond­

i n g per iod of the preceding year.

The entire product ion was reported

f rom Singhbhum dis t r ic t o f B i h a i

State.

Copper Ore Production T H E produc t ion o f copper ore

d u r i n g January-October, 1960