Govt approves transmission network for biggest hydropower plant on Indus river system

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The Union government has approved the setting up of an electricity transmission system for the upcoming 1 gigawatt (GW) Pakal Dul hydropower project on the Chenab river. The project will be the biggest on the Indus River system with a much larger water storage capacity than any existing infrastructure in the region.

The approval to project implementing agency Chenab Valley Power Projects Limited (CVPPL), a subsidiary of NHPC Ltd, for laying the necessary transmission infrastructure was given by the Ministry of Power through a gazette notification published on May 6 night, hours before India struck terror camps in Pakistan in an operation named 'Sindoor'.

Going by precedents, this approval came in a record 40 days from the time CVPPL submitted its papers seeking the clearance. The government usually takes several months to issue such approvals, a ministry official said.

Moneycontrol on May 6 reported that the government now aims to commission Pakal Dul by the second quarter of FY27 and that it recently summoned contractors warning them against any delay. The Ministry of Power is expediting all its under construction hydropower projects in Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh for better utilisation of the Indus river system for India's needs, apart from having greater control in regulating waters to Pakistan, which is the lower riparian of the rivers.

One of the contractors of the project, Afcons Infrastructure Limited, told Moneycontrol that it is building the underground powerhouse package for Pakal Dul and that they expect completion as per schedule by September, 2026. “The project consists of construction of underground powerhouse, four vertical pressure shafts of 292m depth each, two surge shafts of 200m, main access tunnel, transformer cavern with others,” a company spokesperson said.

Also Read: Govt looks to triple clearances for pumped hydro storage projects this fiscal.

Several 300-metre deep holes have been made in the mountains to construct these deepest shafts. Many challenges had to be overcome, such as the procurement of specialised equipment, extreme geology, and maintaining vertical accuracy from the beginning of the project, he added.

The Pakal Dul project is located on the Marusudar river, a tributary of the Chenab River, in Kishtwar district of Jammu & Kashmir. The transmission lines planned for the project will be laid across 21 villages. These include Kowar, Tamruche, Dul (Dool), Dasi, Kwartanji, Banzwar, Kaildan, Hullar, Berwar, Puhi, Puhiper, Lachkhazana, Lachdayaram, Puchal, Matta, Semna, Kishtwar, Shalamar, Gach Kundan, Lachil, Trigam.

As part of its multi-pronged action against Pakistan following the Pahalgam terror strike in which 26 people were killed, India put the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), which governed the sharing of waters of Indus and its five main tributaries — the Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Satluj. Two of the terrorists involved in the attack were Pakistani citizens.

The Chenab, one of the three “western rivers” identified in the IWT, starts in the Himalayas near the Baralacha Pass in Himachal Pradesh, where it is known as Chandrabhaga, and flows into the Indus at Mithankot in Pakistan.