NHPC Ltd, a public sector energy company, which runs the 45MW Nimoo Bazgo hydro-electric project on the Indus river, wants to put up three more hydel projects in the Union Territory.
NHPC’s Group General Manager, Bikram Singh, said that the company has pitched to the Lieutenant Governor (LG) of Ladakh for putting up hydro-electric power plants at Khalsi (78 MW), Takmachik (45 MW) and Kanuntsey (60MW). It is learned that the Ministry of Power is backing NHPC’s proposal.
Singh said that the LG of Ladakh ( R K Mathur) wanted more details, particularly on how the projects will benefit Ladakh. He said NHPC has explained to the LG that the UT would get 13% of the power produced by the projects free of cost—12% under a devolution formula and 1% under the ‘local area development fund’ scheme.
Ladakh is surplus in electricity in the summers when the rivers roar with ice-melted waters. Ladakh exports electricity to other states. However, come winter, the scene is different—very little water flows through (mostly frozen) rivers, and Ladakh imports power from elsewhere. If these three projects come up, it would ease the situation because there would be more revenue by selling more power in the summers. In addition, Ladakhis would get direct and indirect employment.