What Is The Luhri Hydro Power Project And Why Is It Important For Himachal Pradesh?

Union Home Minister Amit Shah has termed the Centre's nod to the 210MW Luhri Hydro Power Project as a "big gift to the people of the state [Himachal Pradesh] from Prime Minister Narendra Modi."

He has said that the clean energy project will help in reducing the pollution and generating huge employment opportunities in the region.

The project is worth Rs 1,810 crores and will help generate 758.20 million units of electricity every year.

The project will be on river Satluj.

This report says:

"The project is being implemented by Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL) on Build-Own-Operate-Maintain (BOOM) basis with active support from the government of India and the state government. The memorandum of understanding (MoU) of this project was signed with the Government of Himachal Pradesh during 'Rising Himachal, Global Investor Meet', held in November 2019."

The project is set to see direct and indirect employment of around 2,000 people in the construction activities of the project. Families associated with the project will be given 100 units of free electricity per month for 10 years.

Reportedly, the state will benefit from free power -- (worth around Rs 1,140 crore) from Luhri Stage-I Hydro Electric Project over a project life cycle of 40 years.