Environment clearance given for 930 Kirthai-II in Kishtwar

Environmental clearance has been given to the 930-MW Kirthai-II Hydroelectricity project that is coming up in the Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, a senior officer said today.
District Development Commissioner, Kishtwar, Angrez Singh Rana, said that with this clearance, the decks have been cleared for all the six major projects coming up on river Chenab, which flows into Pakistan.
"On our side, we have now completed all the formalities with regard to the upcoming six hydro-electricity projects. Kirthai-II was the sixth and the last project, for which the environment clearance was given yesterday," Rana told PTI.
It is expected that the tenders for the project would be floated within a month, he said.

According to the Jammu and Kashmir Power Development Corporation, the estimated hydro power potential of the state is 20,000 Megawatts (MW), of which about possible sources for 16,475 MW have been identified.
These comprise 11,283 MW from the Chenab basin, 3,084 MW from the Jhelum basin, 500 MW from the Ravi basin and 1,608 MW from the Indus basin.

Out of the identified potential, only 3263.46 MW has been exploited so far, consisting of 1211.96 MW in state sector from 21 power projects, 2009 MW in central sector from seven projects and 42.5 MW in private sector from four projects, officials said.

On Sunday, an environment committee gave its nod to 390- MW Kirthai-I.
In the run-of-the-river projects, water is not held back in a reservoir, but flows back into the river after generating electricity.
The other projects coming up in Kishtwar for which the formalities were completed included Kiru (624 MW), Pakal Dul (1,000 MW), Kwar (540 MW) and Bursar (800 MW).
The official said the Kirthai-II project envisages the construction of a 165 meter high concrete gravity dam and requires a total of 225.25 hectares of state, private and reserved land of which the apportionment of private land is only 43 hectares.

More than 2,100 people would get jobs during the execution of the project, Rana said.