SHILLONG: The North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (Neepco) said categorically on Tuesday it is not responsible for the flash floods in North Lakhimpur , also saying the it has itself incurred huge losses because of the natural calamity.There have been complaints about how Neepco released water from the Ranganadi project dam without prior notice, but the electricity body said unprecedented rainfall in Arunachal Pradesh is to blame for the flash floods."There is lot of misinformation about this. We followed the normal procedure for releasing water from the Ranganadi dam, which, in fact, mitigated the calamity to some extent," chairman and managing director of the state-owned corporation, AG West Kharkongor said at a media conference at the Shillong Press Club."It (flood) was a natural phenomenon and to solely attribute this to Neepco is incorrect," he asserted. The entire approach road to the dam at the Pare Hydroelectric Project in Arunachal has been completely washed away, he said."Due to incessant torrential rainfall in the catchment area of the Ranganadi since June 30, inflow of water in the river increased substantially and achieved the maximum to the tune of approximately 1511 cumec on July 9. After utilizing the water required for power generation, excess water was spilled over through the gates of the dam in a controlled manner duly maintaining the reservoir level to its fullest. Out of 1511 cumec, 200 cumec was utilized as power draft and retained within reservoir of Ranganadi, thus controlling the downstream discharges. The natural flood occurring in the upstream of the project cannot be absorbed by the reservoir only," a Neepco release read."Had the Ranganadi Dam not been there, the downstream situation could have been worse," VK Singh, director (technical), Neepco maintained."A number of tributaries join Ranganadi in the downstream of the dam, which also carry sufficient water from their respective catchment areas to the main river. The Ranganadi Dam cannot absorb water beyond its capacity at any point of time. Rather damage in the downstream is reduced to a great extent by maintaining the full reservoir level and diverting 160 cumec of water for power generation through Dikrong river," he pointed out."The same situation occurred in 2008 when various dignitaries and committees visited the site and agreed that this is a natural phenomenon and not connected to Neepco," Singh said. He also pointed out that several other districts which do not have any dam have been flooded.

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