Centre to bear up to 30 pc of project cost
*Will also help stop flow of water to Pak
Sanjeev Pargal
JAMMU, Mar 18: A decision which will immensely benefit the Union Territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, the Union Cabinet today approved the Small Hydro Power (SHP) Development Scheme with an outlay of Rs 2584.60 crore for installation of projects at an approximate capacity of 1500 MW.
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The scheme will specially benefit North Eastern and hilly States and districts with International Border (IB).
The Union Cabinet in a meeting chaired today by Prime Minister Narendra Modi decided to provide up to 30 per cent of the project cost, or up to Rs 3.6 crore per MW, in aid for Small Hydro Projects under a new Rs 2,585 crore scheme for the development of about 1,500 MW clean energy capacity, an official statement issued after the Cabinet meeting said.
Officials described the scheme as encouraging for the twin UTs of J&K and Ladakh saying this will help them to become self-dependent in economic sector. Both the UTs have many water resources, small rivers and streams that can help in construction of Small Hydro Electric Power Projects, they said.
With the Central Government scheme covering hilly and border States besides North East, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh both fall in the ambit of scheme cleared by the Cabinet today. Both the UTs besides being hilly also share border with Pakistan and China respectively.
“The scheme also further India’s objective of keeping the waters in J&K and Ladakh on the country’s side, and to prevent the flows of the waters to Pakistan. There is a lot of water in the tributaries of the Indus, Chenab and Jhelum rivers that flows to Pakistan. These tributaries can be used for setting up of Small Hydropower Projects and meet the local demand for electricity,’’ the officials said.
“Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, which were once part of undivided J&K till August 2019, have many water resources, small rivers and streams that can help in construction of small hydro electric power projects. This will also help India achieve the target of scrapping Indus Water Treaty (IWT) by keeping the waters of J&K on the country’s side preventing flow of waters to Pakistan,’’ they added.
Asserting that these Small Hydropower Projects can meet the local demand for the electricity in the UTs of J&K and Ladakh, the officials said this will also ease pressure on the exchequer as both the UTs incur a lot of expenditure on purchase of electricity especially Jammu and Kashmir which spends an estimated Rs 8254 crore annually to purchase power, while Ladakh had to purchase electricity worth Rs. 156 crore to meet the power demand.
While several big power projects are being constructed over river Chenab in Kishtwar district, they consume time, incur heavy costs and can take couple of years for completion while Small Hydropower projects can be constructed in less time and will help locals in villages and far-off areas.
Few days back, Union Minister for Power Manohar Lal Khattar had said the Centre has begun identifying locations in Jammu and Kashmir for new Hydropower plants.
“Some plants are already operating, and desilting work is being undertaken to restore reservoir capacity. Work has also started on three-four projects that were stalled. Additional projects are being planned, and site identification is under way,” he stated.
Authorities are now examining potential sites for more plants as part of plans to increase power generation from the region.
The scheme will also incentivize the States to prepare the detailed project report for about 200 projects to create a pipeline of small Hydro Projects in future. An amount of Rs. 30 crore has been kept to support State and Central Government agencies to prepare such DPR, the statement said.
The scheme will support 51 lakh person days of employment during the project construction and will also enable employment in maintenance and operation of these SHPs which will come up in largely rural and remote locations. SHP projects being decentralized in nature, the requirement of long transmission line is minimal, which also reduces the transmission losses.
Launching of this Scheme will rejuvenate the Small Hydro Power sector and will help in exploiting the available potential at a much faster pace. SHP projects are environmentally sustainable, as they avoid large-scale land acquisition, deforestation, and displacement of communities. It will also promote socio-economic development of remote areas by boosting local investment, apart from creating long-term employment with project lifespan typically ranging from 40 to over 60 years.
After the Cabinet meeting, Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw told reporters in the Union capital that this is an important decision from an environmental perspective for the country. The projects will be developed as run-of-river projects without constructing dams and displacing people.
Vaishnaw said that there is potential for Small Hydro Projects at 7,133 sites with a total capacity of 21,000 MW in the country.
At present, 5,100 MW of Small Hydro Power Projects are operational at 1,196 sites in the country.
The scheme is expected to attract about Rs 15,000 crore in investment in Small Hydro Projects of up to 25 MW capacity.
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