Private company given the work order says it was unable to make the unit operational due to some snagThe Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) incurred losses to the tune of ?100 core due to delay in overhauling work at a 157 megawatt (MW) power generation unit of the Bhakra dam project and has started a probe into the negligence.

The board has admitted to have faced a daily loss of ?70 lakh as the unit number 7 has been non-operational for months. The inquiry was launched at least 10 days ago to ascertain the reasons behind the delay and ensuing losses as the unit was to be restarted on March 3.

A private company was given the maintenance work of the unit in October 2020 with a timeframe of six months. It is still not clear as how long will it take to resume the operations, officials said.

The Bhakra dam has 10 power generation units. With another unit also under repair, only eight are in functional at present.

The Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) was keen on restarting the unit owing to peak load season in June. The private company that was given the work order for ?1.67 crore has maintained that it was unable to make the unit number 7 operational due to some snag in the parts as an entire turbine had to be dismantled twice.

“For repair work of the parts, a process to incur additional work cost of ?30 lakh was initiated, to which the board’s finance department raised objections. It asked the power generation department to complete the work as per the provisions and rates agreed to in the initial tender,” said a BBMB official.

Another board official said, “Due to the delay, a penalty of ?34 lakh penalty imposed on the private company. It is not practically possible to run all 10 generation units as the basic function of the Bhakra dam is to regulate flow of water.