5 workers feared drowned in Mahisagar as water ‘accidentally’ gushes into hydro power plant premises

The 12 MW run-of-the-river hydro power plant is situated in the Dolatpura weir of Kadana dam. It is operated by Ajanta Energy Private Limited (AEPL), part of Ajanta-Oreva Group of companies of Morbi.

According to the police, the incident occurred between 2pm and 3pm when a group of workers had entered the well of the hydropower plant to “repair machinery”.

With Mahisagar river level rising due to heavy rainfall and release from the Kadana dam, the water is believed to have accidentally gushed into the well of the hydropower plant, trapping the workers.

The missing workers have been identified as Shailesh Raiji Macchi, Shailesh Raman Macchi, Bharat Akhma Padariya, Arvind Damor, and a wireman named Naresh.

According to police, all five missing workers were contractual employees hired by AEPL.

Even as the district police and administration pressed the State Disaster Response Force to undertake rescue operations, the five missing workers could not be located until the time of going to press. Mahisagar District Superintendent of Police Safin Hasan told The Indian Express, “The water gushing into the hydro power plant was accidental… It was not meant to happen and therefore, we have to wait for the water to recede to probe, with the help of dam experts, what could have caused this accident. Meanwhile, we are recording the statements of some other staff of the hydro power plant.”

He said, “We are yet to ascertain if the staff followed the operational protocol and what their expected response was supposed to be during release of water from the dam… However, we have primarily learnt that this magnitude of water entering the plant is an accident. If any negligence is found, an FIR will be registered accordingly.”

Hasan said the revenue department also joined in the rescue operation and on-site cameras have been deployed to track if more persons are trapped inside.

The hydro power plant has three turbines of 4MW each. The project, as part of which a 35-year Power Purchase Agreement with the Gujarat Urja Vikas Nigam Limited (GUVNL) was signed to sell electricity generated at the plant at a fixed rate, began its commercial operation in March 2018.

Kadana dam began releasing 3 lakh cusec water at 6pm on Thursday and is expected to release 4.5 lakh cusec water by midnight on Friday, causing much impediment in the search operations to find the missing workers.