Pema Khandu led govt plans to build 50 mini hydropower projects along China border in Arunachal.

According
to news agency PTI reports, the Arunachal Pradesh government has launched an
ambitious plan to build 50 mini hydropower projects in the region bordering
China to provide electricity to the remote villages and also to the border
guarding forces which face challenges such as poor connectivity and mountainous
terrain.
These
50 micro, mini and small hydropower projects are being built under the ‘Golden
Jubilee Border Village Illumination Programme’, and are of 10–100 Kilowatt (KW)
capacity which is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore.
“The
50 projects are being implemented in a phased manner and under Phase-I, 17
projects with an installed capacity of 1255 KW and at an estimated cost of Rs
50 crore, have been taken up,” Chief Minister Pema Khandu told PTI.
According
to the report, these are stand-alone projects and include localised
transmission and distribution components to facilitate essential services to
the border villages in one go.
Lack
of reliable power supply due to limitations in providing grid connectivity to
these remote areas is a huge constraint for civilians as well as the border
guarding forces deployed in the region said the CM.
The
border guarding forces are mostly dependent on diesel generators for power
which is costly, the report said.
“Ample
presence of water resources like rivers and natural springs along with heavy
rainfall in the mountainous border regions of the state serve as a great
advantage in extraction of energy from micro-hydel projects,” the CM said.
Deputy
Chief Minister Chowna Mein said these 17 projects located in 11 districts will
cover 123 border villages benefitting 10,185 people.
“In
addition, 15 establishments of the Indian Army, Indo Tibetan Border Police and
Border Roads Organisation, covering about 1,800 personnel, will be electrified
under these 17 projects,” said Mein, who also holds the charge of the Power
Department of Arunachal Pradesh.
On
Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during his visit to Kibithoo, launched
nine of these mini-micro hydroelectric projects, which have a total capacity of
725 KW.
One
of these projects, Dichu Nallah (100 KW), is located just along the Line of
Actual Control (LAC), near Kibithoo in Anjaw district.It had faced problems
from close scrutiny of the China’s People Liberation Army (PLA) because of its
proximity to the LAC, stated the report.
“However,
despite several hurdles, we could successfully complete the project within a
very short span of time. We have also changed the colour of the project from
bottle green to red as it is a civilian asset,” said executive engineer of the
project Dharmendra Gogoi.
Most
of the assets in the are painted green, which means the asses belongs to the Army
utilities while some are painted in red colour meaning, it is a civilian asset.
Arunachal Pradesh has the longest international border in the country with a
total length of 1,863 km. Out of the total international boundary, the state
shares 1,126 km border with Tibet.
The
deputy chief minister said such projects are not only cost-effective but also
environmentally sustainable.
“Arunachal
has till date installed many such projects during last few years. In fact last
year the state earned more than four lakhs of carbon credit by generating power
through these micro-hydels,” the deputy chief minister said.
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