CDS (I) 2021 General Knowledge · Question 85 of 120

Correct — A, Satluj. Luhri Stage-I is a 210 MW hydro-electric project on the Satluj in the Shimla and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh, built by SJVN Limited, the joint venture of the Government of India and the Government of Himachal Pradesh. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs cleared an investment of about 1,810 crore rupees for it in November 2020, three months before this paper was set, which is why the project was in the news; the design output is roughly 758 million units of electricity a year and construction was expected to run to the middle of this decade. SJVN's other stations on the same river are Nathpa Jhakri at 1,500 MW and Rampur at 412 MW.

• (b)Beas — The Beas carries the Pong and Pandoh projects and the Beas-Sutlej link, but not Luhri.
• (c)Ravi — The Ravi is dammed at Chamera and Ranjit Sagar, both well to the west of the Luhri site.
• (d)Chenab — The Chenab is the river of the Baglihar, Salal, Dulhasti and Ratle projects, all in Jammu and Kashmir rather than Himachal Pradesh.

The Satluj rises near Lake Rakshastal on the Tibetan plateau and enters India at Shipki La in Kinnaur, dropping steeply through Himachal Pradesh before reaching the plains — a fall that makes it the most heavily developed river of the western Himalaya for power. Its chain of stations includes Nathpa Jhakri and Karcham Wangtoo in Kinnaur, Rampur, Kol Dam in Bilaspur and, farthest downstream, the Bhakra dam. The Satluj is one of the three eastern rivers allotted to India under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, along with the Ravi and the Beas.

Four Himalayan rivers of the same basin make this a placement question, and the reliable handle is the state rather than the map: Luhri and its neighbours are Himachal projects, and in Himachal the big hydro names cluster on the Satluj. The Chenab option can be struck out immediately because those projects belong to Jammu and Kashmir. Anchor the news value to the exam — the investment approval came in November 2020 — and note that a project approved then is a construction schedule rather than a finished station, so the useful facts to carry are the river, the state and the capacity.

• Luhri Stage-I is a 210 MW project on the Satluj in the Shimla and Kullu districts of Himachal Pradesh.
• The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs approved an investment of about 1,810 crore rupees in November 2020.
• The executing agency is SJVN Limited, a joint venture of the Government of India and the Government of Himachal Pradesh.
• SJVN's other Satluj stations are Nathpa Jhakri, 1,500 MW, and Rampur, 412 MW.
• The Satluj rises on the Tibetan plateau near Lake Rakshastal and enters India at Shipki La in Kinnaur district.

• Placing Luhri on the Beas because both rivers run through Himachal Pradesh.
• Confusing the Satluj projects with the Chenab projects, which are in Jammu and Kashmir.
• Treating an investment approval as a commissioning; the clearance of November 2020 marked the start of construction, not the start of generation.

As a project-to-river item, or inside a match-list pairing hydro projects with their rivers or states.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  The Nathpa Jhakri hydro-electric project is located on which one of the following rivers?

  • (a)Beas
  • (b)Satluj
  • (c)Yamuna
  • (d)Chenab

  Answer(b) Satluj — in Kinnaur district of Himachal Pradesh, and at 1,500 MW the largest station on the river.

• practice — not a real PYQ

  Under the Indus Waters Treaty of 1960, which one of the following groups constitutes the eastern rivers allotted to India?

  • (a)Indus, Jhelum and Chenab
  • (b)Ravi, Beas and Satluj
  • (c)Jhelum, Ravi and Beas
  • (d)Chenab, Satluj and Indus

  Answer(b) Ravi, Beas and Satluj — the western rivers Indus, Jhelum and Chenab were allotted to Pakistan.