CHUNGTHANG
DAM – GEOGRAPHY
News: Sikkim's Chungthang dam washed away
due to substandard construction: Chief Minister
What's
in the news?
●
Sikkim's Chungthang dam was washed away
because of substandard construction, Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang has said.
Key
takeaways:
●
The flash flood in the Teesta River,
triggered by the cloudburst in Lhonak
Lake, caused the accumulation of huge quantities of water, which turned
towards Chungthang Dam, destroying the power infrastructure before moving
downstream in spate, flooding towns and villages.
Chungthang
Dam:
●
It is a dam and hydroelectric power
station located in Chungthang, a town in Sikkim.
●
It is an integral part of the 1200 MW mega Teesta Stage III Hydro
Electric Project, a major source of electricity for Sikkim and West Bengal.
●
It is a run-of-the-river hydroelectric project, which was commissioned in
2017.
●
The dam had a gross height of 817 metres
and a net head of 778 metres, which was used for power generation.
Teesta
River:
●
It is a Trans Himalayan River flowing
through the Indian states of Sikkim and
West Bengal and Rangpur in Bangladesh.
●
It is a tributary of Brahmaputra River.
Origin:
●
It originates in the Himalayas and flows
through the Indian States of Sikkim and West Bengal before entering Bangladesh,
where it flows into the Brahmaputra.
●
It has a total length of about 309KM.
Main
Tributary:
Rangeet River