The Himachal Pradesh state secretariat of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) has expressed deep grief over the washing away of over 25 people including 6 girls in Beas river in Mandi district. The CPI(M) has demanded a high level inquiry and stern action against the guilty who allowed the water to spill over from Largi Dam and also against the Himachal Pradesh state Load dispatch centre (SLDC). The management of the electricity board should take moral responsibility and resign immediately. The party has asked the Mandi and Kullu district administration to ensure that proper signage’s are erected along the river side asking people not to venture into the river even if it is dry.
The Party has also asked the government to hold a thorough inquiry either by the central Northern Grid or such other agency as to why the water was allowed to spill over as it is not a normal case of water flooding but has to do with the economics of power generation to which the SLDC became a party and connived with the private players in hydro power generation. It is learnt that when this incident occurred there was surplus power thrown in the northern gird by various power producers including the public sector and the Independent Power Producers (IPPs). Had the frequency level reached 51- to 52 there was a chance of failure of the northern grid and to avoid that the power generation had to be lowered. It could have happened by asking the private players like Baspa, Malana and AD to shut one unit each so that there is less supply of energy in the evening. However, there have been charges made against the SLDC even in the past that they are hand in glove with the private producers . And with respect to the present incident so that the private producers do not suffer a loss by asking them to shut some of their units, the public sector unit i.e. Largi was asked to completely shut down production for few hours . It was this reason that the Dam which does not have a capacity to store enough water was full and the water spilled over. The party has demanded that this aspect also should be thoroughly investigated. The party has also demanded for adequate compensation to the family members of the deceased.