FLUSHED!

DIKCHU, 12 June: The above photograph is of the Teesta Stage V hydel project reservoir at Dikchu, its bed exposed after it was flushed on Sunday when the silt levels increased beyond the dam’s capacity to manage. It was rare sight for the residents here to see what a free-flowing Teesta looks like when it courses through their town because all they otherwise experience nowadays are the lulling laps of a reservoir. Readers will also be able to spot some locals standing along the boundary wall of the now abandoned Dikchu Secondary School campus above the reservoir and the high bank of the silt deposit. NHPC suspended power generation at the Stage-V for two days due to heavy siltation in the Teesta. Heavy rains and flashfloods in North district inundated the Teesta with silt much higher than the project’s capacity to handle [normally Teesta generates 6,000ppm] of 10000ppm which made the process of ‘flushing’ seen in the photograph above necessary.