Ladakh high on development path with three new hydel projects on anvil

Ladak: Ladakh is now on a high growth trajectory and becoming more developed with every passing day. Ladakh was established as a Union Territory in India three years back and since then the government has taken various initiatives for its upliftment, said an official source here on Thursday.
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, according to an article in the Hindu Businessline. NHPC's Group General Manager, Bikram Singh, told business-line last week 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 learnt that India's Ministry of Power is backing NHPC's proposal.
Singh said, "The LG of Ladakh (R K Mathur) wanted more details, particularly on how the projects will benefit Ladakh."
Singh further said that NHPC has explained to the LG that the UT would get 13 per cent of the power produced by the projects free of cost--12 per cent under a devolution formula and 1 per cent 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, in 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, the article explained.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi gifted a 7.5 GW solar-based power project to make Ladakh carbon neutral. (ANI)