Shimla: The 775-MW Luhri Hydroelectric Project has run into rough weather with the Expert Appraisal Committee (EAC) of the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests for river valley projects expressing concern over its environmental fallout in view of the extremely long head race tunnel (HRT) and reservoir, which will affect a large number of people due to submergence of land.

State-owned power companies including hydropower giant NHPC have snapped supplies to defaulting utilities — BSES Delhi and a distribution firm in Uttar Pradesh — and have started trading the electricity profitably in open market, top executives told. NHPC chairman and managing director ABL Srivastava told ET that the company began selling through exchanges on Thursday to recover losses arising from defaults. He said BSES Delhi owed about . 460 crore to NHPC while another . 490 crore were due from Uttar Pradesh power distribution company.

Imphal, Feb. 19: The campaign against Tipaimukh hydroelectric project is gaining momentum in Manipur with various local organisations joining the anti-dam cry and demanding scrapping of the project. Today, students and villagers from 10 villages of Imphal West took out a bicycle rally in the district.
The campaign was kicked off on February 11 following a review meeting on Tipaimukh dam attended by various Manipur-based NGOs, including the Citizens’ Concern for Dam and Development.

Keen on taking advantage of the national solar mission, the public sector Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam (SJVN) will make a foray into the renewable energy sector with a pilot solar power project in the state, to be set up alongside the Nathpa Jhakri project.

Pilot Project

Water resources minister Ramesh Chandra Sen on Sunday told the parliament that the government was selecting experts to constitute the Bangladesh side on the joint survey team for studying the impacts of the proposed construction of Tipaimukh Dam across the Barak River in the Indian state of Manipur.

‘Bangladesh has already sent a proposal to India for conducting a joint survey on the impacts of the proposed Tipaimukh (Multipurpose) Hydroelectric Project on Bangladesh. The process of forming the Bangladesh side on the joint survey team is in progress,’ he

Every winter, the cold climate almost freezes Himachal Pradesh's hydropower generation. But this time unusually harsh Arctic conditions in the higher reaches, where most of the rivers originate, have made production nosedive further. Officials said hydropower generation starts declining in October. By December, it comes down by 80 percent. This winter, it dipped more.

The Tipaimukh Dam project over river Barak in Manipur is again turning a bone of contention between India and Bangladesh.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today sought to dispel any apprehension in Bangladesh arising from the recent signing of a ‘Promoter’s Agreement’ with the purpose of setting up a joint venture company between the Manipur government, NHPC Ltd and the Sutlej Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVN).

Two advisers of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina made a courtesy call on Singh here amid growing tension between the two countries over the dam issue.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday assured his Bangladesh counterpart Sheikh Hasina’s advisors Gowher Rizvi and Mashiur Rahman that India would not take steps on the proposed Tipaimukh project that would adversely affect that country. He also told them that New Delhi was ready to hold discussion with Dhaka on the issue.
Ministry of External Affairs’ official spokesperson Vishnu Prakash said, “The government has already conveyed to Bangladesh government its readiness to hold discussions... on the Tipaimukh Hydroelectric Project.”

As many as 7,500 trees will be axed to pave the way for the 775 MW Luhri Hydroelectric Project being constructed by the public sector Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam on the Sutlej near Nirath downstream Rampur.