GoUK advocates award of stage-II clearance for THDC's 444 MW Vishnugad Pipalkot HEP

The Government of Uttarakhand (GoUK) has recommended to the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) to award stage-II forest

clearance to THDC`s 444 MW Vishnugad Pipalkot hydro electric project (HEP), after ensuring the compliance of all conditions stipulated in the

stage-I clearance document.
8With regard to land acquisition, a sum of Rs 47 crore has been released as payment for compensatory afforestation and Catchment Area

Treatment (CAT). Further, the proposal for declaration of land as `reserve forest` has been submitted to the state government.
8Subsequently, out of the cumulative 132.618 ha of land, 19.883 ha of forest land and 31.514 ha of private land has already been acquired by

the developer. The hydel major had received the stage-I forest clearance for 80.507 ha of forest land early last year.
8Notably, the project - envisaged as a run-of-river scheme - is proposed to be constructed on the Alaknanda river, a major tributary of the

Ganga, in the Chamoli district of Uttarakhand. It would afford an annual energy generation of 1,813.03 GWh, on a 90% machine availability and

is scheduled to be completed during 2014-15.