• A sudden landslide recently struck the dam site of the under-construction Vishnugad Pipalkoti Hydroelectric Project in Helang, Chamoli district, Uttarakhand, injuring twelve workers, four of them critically.
• Located on the Alaknanda River, a major tributary of the Ganga, the project is designed as a 444-megawatt run-of-river hydropower scheme, expected to produce about 1,665 gigawatt-hours of electricity annually.
• It involves constructing a 65-meter concrete gravity dam near Helang village to create a reservoir with a storage capacity of 3.63 million cubic meters, equivalent to 4.9 hours of the river’s average flow.
• Water will be transported via a 13.4-km headrace tunnel to an underground powerhouse near Haat village, with a 3-km tailrace tunnel returning the water to the Alaknanda about 18 km downstream.
• The project, developed by THDC India Ltd—a joint venture between the Government of India and the Government of Uttar Pradesh—is financed by a US$ 648 million World Bank loan.