Syllabus: GS-III: Infrastructure

Why in the News?

The stalled Sawalkote Hydroelectric Project (HEP) on the Chenab River in Jammu & Kashmir is back at the centre of India’s hydropower strategy. With the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance after the 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, the Environment Ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) will appraise the project for environmental clearance, even as it has been exempted from cumulative impact and carrying capacity studies.

About Sawalkote Project

• Type: Run-of-the-river hydroelectric project (with storage element).
• River: Chenab (part of the Indus system).
• Location: Ramban and Udhampur districts, Jammu & Kashmir.
• Implementing Agency: National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC), a GoI Mini Ratna Category-I PSU under the Ministry of Power.
• Capacity: 1,865 MW (1,406 MW in Stage I and 450 MW in Stage II).
• Dam Structure: 192.5 m high concrete gravity dam.
• Reservoir Capacity: 530 million cubic metres, spread across 1,159 hectares.
  

Key Issues and Challenges

• Environmental Impact:
  • Diversion of 846 hectares of forest land across Udhampur, Mahore, Batote, and Ramban.
  • Felling of 2,22,081 trees, including over 1.26 lakh in Ramban district.
• Ecological Concerns: Critics argue it cannot be termed “run-of-river” due to large dam and storage.
• Cumulative Pressure: Chenab already hosts Dulhasti (390 MW), Baglihar (890 MW), and Salal (690 MW) projects, leading to “bumper-to-bumper” hydropower development.
• Data Validity: Last public hearing in 2016; baseline data outdated, though NHPC has updated primary data across 2022–23 seasons.
  

Strategic Significance

• Geopolitical Angle:
  • Under IWT, India’s use of western rivers (Chenab, Jhelum, Indus) was limited to non-consumptive purposes.
  • With the treaty suspended, projects like Sawalkote are seen as strategic leverage.
• Energy Security: Largest hydro project on a western river; expected to significantly boost J&K’s and India’s hydropower capacity.
  

Way Ahead

• Ensure updated environmental and social impact studies before clearance.
• Balance strategic needs with ecological sustainability in ecologically sensitive Himalayan terrain.
  
• Address concerns of local communities, given large-scale forest diversion and displacement potential.
  

In Brief: The Sawalkote HEP, pending since 1984, has re-emerged as a strategic priority project after the IWT suspension. While it promises 1,865 MW of clean power, concerns over forest loss, ecological stress, and cumulative impacts on the Chenab remain central to the clearance process.

Practice MCQ

Q. With reference to the Sawalkote Hydroelectric Project, consider the following statements:

1. It is located on the Chenab River in Jammu & Kashmir.
2. The project is being implemented by the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).
3. It is India’s largest hydroelectric project proposed on a western river of the Indus system.
4. The project involves no diversion of forest land as it is a pure run-of-the-river scheme.
   

Which of the statements given above are correct?

(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 1, 2 and 3 only
(c) 2, 3 and 4 only
(d) 1, 3 and 4 only

Answer: (b) 

The Indian Express