Union govt approves Rs. 9167 cr Ujh Dam-based Power Project in Kathua, J&K

Ziraat Times News Network

Jammu: The Advisory Committee of the Department of Water Resources, River Development & Ganga Rejuvenation (DoWR, RD&GR), Govt of India, has approved the Ujh Multipurpose Project in Kathua, J&K, at an estimated cost of Rs. 9167 crore.

According to a press statement issued by J&K Information Department early Saturday, the modified DPR of the MPP project was approved at DoWR’s 144th meeting, chaired by Secretary to the Government of India, DoWR, RD & GR, MoJS, U P Singh.

Keeping in view the strategic importance of the project from Indus Waters Treaty angle for utilisation and regulation of waters flowing across the border and also for potential future use of the stored water in an optimal manner, the Committee accepted the project proposal subject to certain conditions, the official statement said.

Pertinently, Ujh multipurpose project has been declared as a National project in year 2008. The Detailed Project Report (DPR) of Ujh Multipurpose Project J&K was initially prepared by Indus Basin Organisation of Central Water Commission in 2013. The DPR was considered in the 131st meeting of the Advisory Committee held on November. 16, 2016 wherein the project was ‘In- Principle’ agreed. Subsequently the DPR of the project was revised so as to address the concerns regarding submergence of land. The revised DPR of the project was accepted by the Advisory Committee in its 139th meeting held on 07.01.2019 for an estimated cost of Rs. 5850 crore at July, 2017 Price Level, the official release says.

The Culturable Command Area (CCA) to be irrigated under the project was proposed as 16743 Ha with proposed irrigation intensity of 187 %, while according approval to the project, the Committee directed that ‘for ensuring consumptive utilization of water beyond already envisaged through Project, possibility of additional utilization should be explored at the earliest so that the water released to generate hydropower may not flow out of the country and such project should be implemented on priority.

Irrigation & Flood Control department J&K framed a modified proposal of Ujh Multipurpose project for inclusion of the additional CCA of 23973 Ha beyond scope of the Ujh MPP already approved in the 139th meeting of the Advisory Committee. Modified Ujh Multipurpose ProjectThe Modified Ujh MPP is located on river Ujh, one of the main tributaries of river Ravi, in district Kathua of Jammu and Kashmir.

Dam height

A 116.00 m high dam is proposed at River with FRL at 608 m. The proposed dam site is in the village Barbari about 1.6 km downstream of Panchtirthi.

Dam site location

The powerhouse site is approximately 9.5 km downstream of dam site near a village called Deoli. A barrage has been proposed 1.5 km distance of powerhouse which also lies in Tehsil and district Kathua. Two main canals, Right Main Canal (RMC) and Left Main Canal (LMC) would be emanating from barrage along both the banks of the River.

The RMC would be passing through tehsil Kathua, Hiranagar and Samba district, while the LMC would be passing through district Kathua.The CCA under LMC, in the original proposal, was proposed as 3053 Ha. In the modified proposal, it remains unchanged.

Irrigation aspects of the project

A new lift irrigation scheme is proposed to draw water from the pondage of Ujh MPP to provide irrigation to CCA of 4369 Ha of Bilwara block of Kathua District, situated in the upstream of the reservoir. It envisaged creation of 5 intake points from reservoirs to carry water through 5 no. pipe distribution systems to convey water to 21 delivery tanks and one common tank which would supply water to 21 villages of Kathua district.CCA under RMC in the original proposal was proposed as 13690 Ha. Now in the modified proposal, a new canal is proposed to tap water from the proposed RMC at RD 33.200 km for irrigating additional command is 7044 Ha in Samba District comprising of 121 villages spread over seven blocks namely Nud, Sumb, Vijaypur, Gaghwal, Samba, Parmandal and Bari Brahmana.

The canal will also cater to the drinking purposes and industrial purpose for Samba District. Further, through this new canal emanating from RMC, it has proposed to provide water in Tawi command (CCA of 12560 Ha) which is presently being irrigated by lift. The water shall be delivered to the Tawi canal through the new canal as well as through linking Ravi canal with Tawi canal.

Thus , under modified proposal, total CCA under RMC has increased from 13690 Ha to 33294 Ha. It was also informed that the water saved in Tawi Lift Irrigation scheme shall be used for an alternate unirrigated command located in Udhampur District for which a project proposal is presently under finalization.With the above mentioned additional areas, total CCA has changed from 16743 Ha to 40716 Ha, with the proposed irrigation intensity of 189 percent, the irrigation potential of the project works out as 76929 1-Ia. The crop water requirement has been assessed as 557.19 MCM.

Drinking water and industrial water dimension

In addition to this, drinking water and industrial water requirement has been assessed as 18.92 MCM and 20 MCM respectively. Evaporation losses have tentatively been assessed as 42 MCM. Thus total consumptive water requirement work out to be 638.11 MCM excluding the environmental flow to the tune of 97.66 MCM.The Installed capacity of the main powerhouse of the Multipurpose Project has been envisaged as 186 MW.

Power generation capacity

In addition to that. a dam toe powerhouse comprising four units of 2.5 MW each has been proposed to harness the hydro-electric potential of the water meant for environmental releases. The total installed capacity is 196 MW.