Brig Khushal Thakur (retd) has raised concerns about the massive power transmission project, which involves the evacuation of around 20,000 MW of solar power from the cold desert plateaus of Pang and Nyoma in Ladakh to the national grid at Kaithal, Haryana, around 1,000 kilometres away. The budget earmarked for the project is Rs 21,000 crore.
He says, “The proposed transmission line will cut through the already overburdened Manali-Kullu-Mandi-Bilaspur-Chandigarh corridor. This same corridor is simultaneously undergoing highway widening for northern border security and railway line construction from Bilaspur to Leh. The land acquisition process is already in full swing.”
Residents and stakeholders from Lahaul-Spiti, Pangi, Manali and Kullu are concerned. The historical corridor connecting Kiratpur to Ladakh has limited carrying capacity. Multiple mega projects are already underway. The addition of a transmission line with Qutub Minar-sized towers will require enormous land parcels in an already constrained geography.
Experts argue that this project is neither technically sound nor commercially viable for investors. The lengthy construction period will harm tourism, the region’s economic lifeline, while devastating the fragile ecosystem.
Lahaul-Spiti Environmental Protection Committee president Togchand says instead of transmitting power from glaciers thousand miles away and high-altitude deserts, why not generate solar power closer to the grid? He adds that Rajasthan and Haryana have vast desert expanses and thousands of kilometres of irrigation canals that can be covered with solar panels. Such an approach will be economically and commercially advantageous.
He adds that for northern border areas of Ladakh, captive power for future development needs should be harnessed locally, not evacuated through mega transmission lines that pose strategic, practical, commercial and environmental risks.
The Lahaul-Spiti Environmental Protection Committee has urged newly elected Rajya Sabha MP Anurag Sharma to raise this critical issue in the Rajya Sabha, one that affects not only the entire Himalayan region but also the very existence of Himachal Pradesh’s historic corridor.
The coming months will determine whether development and ecological preservation can coexist in these mountains or whether yet another corridor will be sacrificed for ambitious mega-projects.
The Tribune, now published from Chandigarh, started publication on February 2, 1881, in Lahore (now in Pakistan). It was started by Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia, a public-spirited philanthropist, and is run by a trust comprising five eminent persons as trustees.
The Tribune, the largest selling English daily in North India, publishes news and views without any bias or prejudice of any kind. Restraint and moderation, rather than agitational language and partisanship, are the hallmarks of the newspaper. It is an independent newspaper in the real sense of the term.
The Tribune has two sister publications, Punjabi Tribune (in Punjabi) and Dainik Tribune (in Hindi).
Remembering Sardar Dyal Singh Majithia
