Nawalparasi. Gandak Canal in West Nawalparasi has received water after two months. Gandak Hydropower Station at Guthi Suryapura of Pratappur Rural Municipality-7 has started generating electricity from Thursday.
Pitambar Bhusal, chief of the hydropower centre, said the water was released into the canal on Tuesday morning. According to him, the canal is currently receiving waste water, so a turbine has been immediately operated to generate up to 1.5 mw of electricity and connected to the national transmission grid.
Bhusal said, “The flow of water in the canal had stopped since March 15. Electricity generation has also stopped since then due to lack of water. The canal water was blocked from the Gandak Barrage at Vinayi Triveni rural municipality in east Nawalparasi.
According to the Nepal-India Gandak Agreement, India handed over the hydropower plant built in 1979 to Nepal on August 31, 1981. Chief Bhusal said that most of the Indian side has been releasing water into the canal and closing it in the 44-year-old Gandak Hydropower Project.
According to him, the Gorakhpur Irrigation Department in Gorakhpur, Uttar Pradesh, India, has been blocking water every year in the name of cleaning and repairing the canal of the power station. Gandak Hydropower Station has a capacity to generate 15 MW of electricity but has not been able to produce electricity.
Chief Bhusal said that the centre is currently generating up to 4.5 MW of electricity due to the breakdown of old equipment and a turbine. “Although there are three turbines, only two generate electricity and one is stuck,” he said.
Chief Bhusal said that the equipment at gandak hydropower station needs to be changed and improved as it is in accordance with the old technology. According to him, Nepal is currently importing electricity from Ramnagar in Bihar state of India. “We will be able to export electricity from here once the water level is met,” he said.
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