SRINAGAR: The Forest Advisory Committee (FAC) of the Union Environment Ministry has granted in-principle approval for the diversion of 847.17 hectares of forest land for the construction of the 1,856 MW Sawalkot Hydroelectric Project (HEP) in Jammu and Kashmir. The strategic project, promoted by NHPC Ltd, is among six key hydropower developments aimed at strengthening India’s control over the Indus waters, as the decades-old treaty with Pakistan remains suspended.
According to documents accessed by Hindustan Times, the forest clearance covers land spread across the Udhampur, Mahore, Batote and Ramban forest divisions. The FAC approval comes with stringent conditions, including submission of environmental clearance, dam safety approvals, a Stage-I compliance report, and a soil and moisture conservation plan.
The project, which is estimated to cost Rs 22,700 crore, is intended to be India’s next major leap in harnessing the Chenab river’s hydropower potential. The Sawalkot dam will require the felling of an estimated 2.2 lakh trees. Compensatory afforestation has been proposed over 2,115.878 hectares of degraded forest land in the same divisions.
The development comes in the backdrop of India’s decision to suspend the World Bank-brokered Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan on April 23, a day after a deadly terror attack in Pahalgam claimed 26 lives. The suspension of the 1960 treaty, which allocated exclusive use of eastern rivers to India and the western rivers—Indus, Jhelum and Chenab—to Pakistan, has triggered a renewed push in New Delhi to expedite long-pending hydropower infrastructure on rivers flowing through Jammu and Kashmir.
The Ministry of Power, in a letter to the environment ministry dated June 11, noted that cumulative impact and carrying capacity studies for the Jhelum and Chenab River basins are yet to be conducted. However, it cautioned against undertaking such basin-wide studies at this stage, citing the risk of exposing sensitive hydrological and environmental data to “downstream neighbouring countries,” potentially compromising national security.
Reinforcing this concern, the Ministry of Home Affairs, in a separate communication on June 13, underscored the “strategic significance” of the Sawalkot project and stressed the need to fast-track construction to assert India’s rightful utilisation of the Chenab’s flow.
The FAC, while noting these considerations, agreed to proceed with the in-principle approval. The minutes of its June 24 meeting noted, “After discussion, the Committee decided to recommend grant of in-principle approval for diversion of 847.17 ha. of Reserved Forest and Jungle-jhari land for construction of Sawalkot HEP in favour of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) Ltd stating that final approval shall be subject to the grant of environment clearance for the project.”
