The Sawalkot Dam on river Chenab has again become important for India’s strategy to tap the river’s hydro power potential. This stalled dam project on a river, which is part of the system in Jammu and Kashmir, will get appraisal from the environment ministry’s expert panel.

With the industry now called off, the environment ministry will this week appraise NHPC’s 1865 MW project, which is also one of the largest on the western river, for grant of environmental clearances. The freshly constituted expert appraisal committee (EAC) meeting will be of significance for this project. The panel will decide whether to recommend clearances without cumulative impact and carrying capacity studies or not. Such studies are essential to gauge the long-term ecological and social impact of large hydroelectric projects, and exempting such studies would mean that the dam project is fast-tracked.

Less than three months after suspension of the IWT, the environment ministry’s forest advisory committee (FAC) granted an exemption for capacity study and cumulative impact study and requested the ministries of power and home affairs to cooperate. Approval from the forest advisory committee is required in parallel with the EAC appraisal if forest land is being diverted.

Subsequently, the secretary of the ministry of power stated in a letter dated 11 July that the current geo-political scenario needs a detailed study for these river basins, but may have implications on the already initiated clearances and approval processes and subsequent implementation and execution of important upcoming hydro power projects in the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

Sawalkot Dam Project of 1984

The project was first initiated in 1984 but faced many delays due to state-centre tussle. Under the Indus Water Treaty, the west-flowing Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers are under the control of Pakistan.

Now with the Indus Water Treaty in abeyance following the April 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, the government is pushing for the dam project as a strategic priority. This project will divert 846 ha of forest in Udhampur, Maharbhot, and Ramban. This would mean the cutting down of 2,22,081 trees, with a maximum of 1,26,462 in Ramban district alone. The project installation capacity will be 1406 MW in stage one and 450 MW in stage two.

Hydrology experts and environmentalists studying Jammu and Kashmir river basins had written to the Jammu and Kashmir State Pollution Control Board in January 2016, suggesting that it will be misleading to term the project a run-of-the-river in the environmental impact assessment study. The experts also pointed out that there is a bumper-to-bumper hydropower situation on Chenab with three projects already in operation. These projects include the 390 MW Dulhasti project at Kishtwar, 890 MW Baglihar at Ramban, and the 690 MW Salal project at Reasi.