mahikarnam

The 1,500-megawatt (MW) Nathpa Jhakri Hydropower project in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh on Monday resumed power generation after remaining closed for more than 36 hours, a senior official said.

The closure had affected the electricity supply to many states in north India, including Punjab, Haryana and New Delhi.

"The silt content in the Sutlej river had reached 14,000 ppm (parts per million) Saturday night, forcing the suspension of power generation in all the six units of 250 MW each," Vijay Verma, deputy general manager of Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam said.

He said the power generation was resumed only after the silt level in the river came down to the permissible limits of 4,000-5,000 ppm.

In June this year the project was closed for nine days due to high silt level.

The closure of power generation is causing a daily loss of Rs 90 mn to the project authorities.

The power project feeds many states of north India and generates about 38 mn units every day. Punjab gets 114 MW power daily from the project, Haryana 64 MW, Chandigarh 8 MW, Himachal Pradesh 547 MW, New Delhi 142 MW, Jammu and Kashmir 105 MW, Rajasthan 112 MW, Uttar Pradesh 225 MW and Uttarakhand 38 MW