Work on 480 MW Pala Maneri Hydel Project to start on June 11

Dehra Dun, June 9 (UNI) Work on the 480 MW Pala Maneri Hydel Project on the river Bhagirathi in Uttarkashi district will begin on June 11.

The project, being built at a cost of Rs 1922 crore on the river Bhagirathi, a tributory of the River Ganga, is expected to be completed by 2012 and will generate 1880 million units of power, Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Senior Executive Engineer Pankaj Kulshresh told UNI.

He said the project had positive socio-economic impacts and did not pose a threat to the quality of water of the sacred river Ganga.

The size of the reservoir was much smaller as compared to the one built for the Tehri Dam, he said, adding four machines would generate 120 MW of electricity each.

Uttarakhand Chief Minister B C Khanduri will lay the foundation stone for the project.

The state government allotted the Pala Maneri project to UJVNL in 2003 for development and implementation keeping in view the energy requirements of the state in future. The project will be located upstream of the existing UJVNL's project at Tiloth (Uttarkashi) on the river Bhagirathi.

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