Hydropower projects in Ladakh

Indus River and its tributaries in Ladakh region are all laden with adequate potential for generating hydropower and the Government having cleared as many as eight projects of 144 MW in Kargil and Leh districts was going to give a big boost to the power sector of the UT. These projects considered to be the highest so far, can be attributed to the UT getting special focus on massive infrastructural development after being made a Union Territory in the year 2019.Ladakh , admittedly has so far, not been getting reasonably enough attention for harnessing its vast hydropower potential and the new 8 proposed projects were in fact largely aimed at making Ladakh attain self sufficiency in power generation in the near future. We know the peculiar topography of Ladakh being not conducive for mega big power projects but small to medium ones only. Besides, those can also be managed ably and can cumulatively generate enough power. With these eight projects, there will be in total 257 MW power generation on Indus River. However, as per the covenants of the Indus Water Treaty, India was going to provide the entire information about the upcoming projects to Pakistan, as India has high standards of respecting international commitments and treaties . However, necessary clearance given by the Central Water Commission as well as Indus Commissioner to the proposed projects as also other remaining necessary clearances being in the pipeline, were going to hasten the process of early starting of work on these projects.