After nearly four decades of delay, the Sawalkote Hydroelectric Project on the Chenab River in Jammu and Kashmir’s Ramban district has received a major boost, with the Union Environment Ministry’s Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) recommending it for environmental clearance, according to the minutes of a recent meeting.

The 1,865 MW project, to be developed by NHPC Ltd, will be one of the largest hydropower stations on the west-flowing Chenab in the Indus basin. It involves the construction of a 192.5-metre-high concrete gravity dam with a reservoir capacity of 530 million cubic metres, spread over 1,159 hectares. The installed capacity will comprise 1,406 MW in Stage I and 450 MW in Stage II.

Estimated at Rs 200 billion, the project was originally initiated in 1984 but remained stalled for decades. It has now been fast-tracked after the Centre put the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance following the Pahalgam terror attack in April this year. Under the treaty, the Chenab, Indus, and Jhelum rivers are allocated to Pakistan’s control, limiting India’s hydropower utilisation.

The EAC had previously recommended the project for environmental clearance in January 2017, but approval was delayed pending forest clearance for the diversion of 846 hectares, which would involve felling 222,081 trees, including 126,462 in Ramban district.

During its 26 September meeting, the committee reviewed an updated proposal based on new baseline environmental studies conducted across three seasons — monsoon (July 2022), winter (January 2023), and pre-monsoon (May 2023). The panel found no major environmental deviations since 2012 but recorded an increase in human-induced activities such as domestic waste discharge, road expansion, and agricultural runoff.

The EAC also determined that a fresh public hearing was unnecessary as the project’s core features — location, land use, and affected villages — remain unchanged from the last consultation held in January 2016 in Udhampur and Ramban.

Notably, the committee did not cite Cumulative Impact Assessment (CIA) or Carrying Capacity Study (CCS) results in its recommendation. However, the Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) had earlier ruled that since the project originated in 1984, the CIA and CCS guidelines introduced in 2013 would not apply retrospectively.

The Home Ministry described the project as one of “strategic importance”, stressing the need for swift construction to “leverage the Chenab River’s potential”, while the Power Ministry warned that fresh environmental studies could cause delays amid the current geopolitical situation.

The Chenab basin already hosts three major hydropower projects — Dulhasti (390 MW) in Kishtwar, Baglihar (890 MW) in Ramban, and Salal (690 MW) in Reasi. The addition of Sawalkote is expected to substantially enhance power generation capacity and strengthen India’s presence in the strategically vital Indus basin.