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• On 1st July 1986, Mr. M.R. Kulkarni B. E. (Mech.) and his wife Mrs. Nishigandha with the main aim to develop the most accurate solution to the problem of discharge measurement through open channels established an innovative company “Ni-Plast”. His father Mr. R.A. Kulkarni who was working as an Executive Engineer in the Irrigation Department, was facing a lot of problems with the flumes constructed in masonry or prefabricated concrete structures or mild steel. These flumes failed in providing accurate discharge measurement particularly in deep black cotton soil and required repetitive rectification. Mr. M.R.Kulkarni a Mechanical Engineer having passed from the renowned Walchand College of Engineering, Sangli in first class with distinction decided to accept the challenge of providing a perfect solution to the problem of discharge measurement and successfully designed and developed the “Fibreglass Reinforced Plastic (FRP) FLUME”.
• In 1986, for the first time, these products were displayed to the visiting World Bank officials at the Upper Penganga Project, Nanded. The World Bank experts Mr. Satyanarayan Singh from India and Mr. Des Bouvrie from Sweden were very impressed with these innovative developments in the irrigation sector and out of curiosity and to learn more about the product and processes, visited Ni-plast’s factory (works) at Kolhapur twice. During their visit to Ni-Plast’s (works) factory, Mr. Satyanarayan Singh a retired Chief Engineer from Andhra Pradesh with a very sound technical knowledge and reputation remarked on the FRP flumes as they being the “BEST AVAILABLE MATERIAL IN THE MARKET FOR ACCURATE DISCHARGE MEASUREMENT”.
• ‘Ni-Plast’ flumes have a proven track record of over fifteen years. They have been tested in various research institutes in different states of India as well as in irrigation canals of varying capacities from 0.33 cusecs to 1500 cusecs.
• Some of the prestigious works carried out by ‘Ni-Plast’ in different states are as follows.
• YRPC, Kakinada (Andhra Pradesh) 300 cusecs Parshall flume installed for measuring water supply to Vaizag steel plant where pump discharge and flume discharge match perfectly.
• DIRD, Pune, - 40 Nos. of Cut Throat Flume (CTF) installed at Nigoj for return flow study monitored under CWPRS, Pune. A project financed by World Bank.
• Water supply societies under Sahyadri Sugar mill and Rajarambapu Sugar mill, for lift irrigation schemes. Here trials were conducted to test the accuracy of the flumes by volumetrically measuring the water that flowed through the CTF flume and collected in a tank. The measurement given by the flume and the volume of water in the tank matched correctly.
• At the prestigious Koyona Project, Ni-Plast make V-Notches are installed for measurement of seepage in gallery water. To cross verify the accuracy, water that flowed through the V-Notches was collected in buckets against fixed period of time and the discharge was calculated.
• 48 USAID schemes for M.I. tanks in Maharashtra, where Ni-Plast flumes are installed, the discharge was verified by Kirloskar consultancy in Bm III & IV stage. MWSIP projects for M.I. tanks in Maharashtra.
• At Bhatsa dam, in the Thane district, installation of V-Notch in the gallery enabled the authorities to trace exact quantity of water seepage and thus immediate remedial measures were taken and now lakhs of liters of water is being saved every day.
• At the Upper Krishna Project (UKP), Almatti, in Karnataka, discharge flowing through flume was verified with Manning’s formula and with Area Velocity method and a performance certificate was issued.
• In Kakarapar reservoir in Gujarat, Left Bank Main Canal (LBMC) for 2500 cusecs discharge and Right Bank Main Canal (RBMC) for 3500 cusecs discharge measurement system for different location and display in flood cell at Gujarat by GSM modem technology is successfully installed and results are excellent.