Lakhwar Multi Purpose Dam | Latest Burning Issue | Free PDF Download

WHAT JUST HAPPENED?

• Centre signs MoU with six states for construction of Lakhwar dam in upper Yamuna basin •Union Water Resources Minister Nitin Gadkari signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with six states for the construction of the Lakhwar multi-purpose project in the upper Yamuna basin to deal with water crisis.

 HISTORIC SIGNING

Chief Ministers Yogi Adityanath of Uttar Pradesh, Vasundhara Raje of Rajasthan, Trivendra Singh Rawat of Uttarakhand, Jai Ram Thakur of Himachal Pradesh, Manohar Lal Khattar of Haryana and Arvind Kejriwal of Delhi signed the MoU for the construction of the 204- metre high water storage project near Uttarakhand’s Lohari village.

NOTES

• The total project cost is Rs 3,966.51 crore.
• Gadkari said that the stored water will help irrigate 33,780 hectares of land and make available an additional 78.83 MCM of water for domestic, drinking and industrial use in the six basin states. • The Lakhwar project will also boost electricity production in Uttarakhand. The project will generate 300 megawatt power and will be executed by the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited.

LAKHWAR-VYASI DAM PROJECT

• Lakhwar Dam and Power Station, Vyasi Dam, Hathiari Power Station and Katapathar Barrage
• Project will hold 580 million cubic metres water during monsoon and release into Yamuna during dry months.

DELHI AT THE CORE

• Lakhwar will be the third such major project after Renukaji and Kishau multi-purpose projects which will take care of future drinking water needs of Delhi.
• The national capital currently faces deficit of 200 million gallons per day (MGD) of water out of its total estimated demand of 1,113 MGD.
• If Delhi doesn’t explore additional sources of water for its growing demand, the deficit will increase further in coming years.

HARYANA TO BENEFIT TOO

• Water issues in Haryana will get “resolved” after the state starts getting 47 per cent of the allocated water supply from the Lakhwar Dam in Uttarakhand. – Haryana CM
• he state of Haryana will be allocated 47 per cent of water from the dam, and the rest 53 per cent will be given to the five other states. I firmly believe that the water-related issues in the state can be addressed once we start getting the allocated percentage of water from the dam

OTHER PROJECTS

Renukaji project is to come up on river Giri, tributary of Yamuna, in Sirmour district of Himachal Pradesh while Kishau project will come up on river Tons – another tributary of Yamuna – along the border of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.

THE DANGER

Environmentalists have, however, been objecting to these projects calling them a recipe for disaster. It’s a massive dam coming up in highly seismic area. Its spillway capacity, designed in 1980s, has already been declared inadequate … This is certainly deathknell for Yamuna. Age of large dams is gone and we hope better sense will prevail

NOTES

Like Renukaji dam project, Lakhwar, too, has been declared a ‘project of national importance’ and therefore its cost (excluding power component) will be borne by the Centre and other beneficiary states in the ratio of 90:10. After completion of all these storage projects in the Upper Yamuna Basin, total benefits in terms of additional irrigation potential created will be 1,30,856 hectares, water availability for various uses will be 1093.83 MCM and power generation capacity will be 1,060

1. COST OF THE PROJECT

Total Cost – Rs 3966.51 crore (May 2012 price) * Cost of hydropower component – Rs 1388.28 crore (It is to be borne by Uttarakhand)

• Remaining cost (Rs 2578.23 crore) to be shared: Centre – Rs 2320.41 crore Haryana – Rs 123.29 crore UP/Uttarakhand – Rs 86.75 crore Rajasthan – Rs 24.08 crore Delhi – Rs 15.58 crore HP – Rs 8.13 crore

 YAMUNA RIVER NOTES

• Yamuna River is a tributary of Ganga River
• Yamuna is another sacred river of India that origins from Yamunotri Glacier at height 6,387 metres, on the south western slopes of Banderpooch peak, in the Lower Himalayas in Uttarakhand.
• From there it travels a total length of 1,376 kilometers and has a drainage system of 366,223 km², 40.2% of the entire Ganga Basin, before merging with the Ganga at Triveni Sangam or Prayag at Allahabad.

LAKHWAR DAM

• In 1976, Planning Commission granted approval for the project. In 1986 environmental clearance was granted and construction on the 204 m (669 ft) tall dam began in 1987 by Jaypee Group under the supervision of the Uttar Pradesh Irrigation Department, when the area belonged to Uttar Pradesh.
• In 1992, the construction was halted at 35 percent progress after Jaypee Group pulled out due to the lack of funding. In 2008, it was notified as a national project by the union govt and the union govt will bear the 90% cost.

LAKHWAR DAM

• In November 2013, construction restarted on the Vyasi Dam and it once again received environmental clearance from the Ministry of Environment and Forests in February 2014. Vyasi Dam was expected to be completed in 2016, revised to 2018. Project was stalled for almost 30 years, which was expedited with enhanced compensation payment in 2016 to the displaced villagers.

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