Pune: Officials of the Water Resources Department (WRD) have claimed that they have been successful in reducing the water leakage level at the Temghar dam by 90 per cent as compared to the leakage level of 2016 when the issue was highlighted in media.
Officials of WRD had organised a media visit at the dam on Thursday.
Superintendent of WRD Pravin Kolhe said that in 2016, the water leakage level from the dam was 2147.73 litre per second which was reduced to 208 litre per second as on Thursday. Kolhe said that the repair work is been divided into three parts which include drilling and grouting, repair of Monolith joints, followed by work on the upstream part of the dam.” “As part of long-term measures, we will use buttresses for support and strengthen the dam which has weakened over the period of time. We will also have to increase the density of the dam by cementing it,” added Kolhe.
As a part of repairing the upstream part of the dam, the WRD will use a 50 mm paste of cement, silica and other components to stop the leakage of the dam. Kolhe said that they will also start work on monoliths. “Of the 27 monoliths on the 1075m long dam, there is leakage from monolith number 9 to 14 and number 16. These monoliths will be repaired after monsoon.” Officials of WRD will have to check for rubber structures in these monoliths which will help to prevent leakage. In all, the department has spent Rs 37 crore and the budget for the repair is Rs 100 crore. The dam was built for Rs 250 crore between 1997 to 2000. Officials said that there was an issue with the land acquisition process in 2000 which caused a delay in the project and the dam was functional in 2010. Kolhe said that in ideal situation, there should not be any problem in a dam for 100 years.
“In all, 32 people have been booked in the FIR for allegedly using inferior quality material during the construction of Temghar dam. Of these, 25 were government officials including engineers, and others were persons from the construction company involved in the project. The construction company accused in the project will pay for the repair works and we will soon start the process of recovery of money from the construction company,” added Kolhe.
Officials said that they are taking technical help from Central Water and Power Research Station (CWPRS), Pune. The tender for the project of repair work is been awarded to Shiva Structures Private Limited.
