BEAS RIVER WATER INTAKE STRUCTURE ALONG WITH LAYING OF PIPE LINE UPTO GVK POWER PLANT

V T LONDHE MARCH 2009–JUNE 2010

The above structure was awarded to M/s NATCONN company and I was regarded as their only consultant for this work.

I along with the Natconn owner{Mr. V.S Jha} went from Bhopal to New Delhi and then to Amritsar by flight .We further travelled from Amritsar to Kapurthala and then to Goindwal Sahib Area where a power plant was to be there. On way from Kaputhala to Goindwal Sahib we crossed the BEAS River over the bridge. When seeing towards right side from the bridge itself the actual site for the water intake structure was seen.

History of BEAS river:-

This river starts from the great Himalayas and as such the river flows throughout the year during the monsoon as well as the summer season. This happens because the snow from the Himalayas melts and it flows down the river during the summer. The river carries with it lot of silt and sand. The bed of the river therefore gets silted and sandy.

Initial Construction Activities:-

The Beas river water intake structure construction had initially to construct a corridor by building a U type earthen bund by joining it with the right bank of the river. Once the U type earthen bund is completed then the riverside of the bund is protected by putting vertical tin sheets with vertical and horizontal ballies tied together along with tin sheets for supporting the slipping of the earth of the earth bund. Then the dewatering is started side by side removing the silt and sand from the river bed. This system is repeated continuously till the foundation of the structure is taken down to the rocky bed wherever it may be there.

In this particular case it had to be taken down to around 20 to 25 feet below the sandy bed.

Construction Activities:-

Once the rocky bed is struck anywhere in the foundation then immediately the portion is concreted and then it is extended wherever the rocky bed is available and then immediate concreting is completed through the complete bed of the foundation.

There after the structure concreting is taken up as per approved drawing and raised above meter by meter as per the sketch shown below in photographs. The back filling is taken up also side by side.