Match the hydroelectric projects with the river on which they are constructed: A. Koteshwar B. Kulhal C. Tapoban Vishnugad D. Vishnuprayag 1. Asan 2. Alaknanda 3. Bhagirathi 4. Dhauli
- (a)3 2 1 4
- (b)3 1 2 4
- (c)2 4 1 3
- (d)3 1 4 2
Correct — D, 3 1 4 2.
The key reads 3 1 4 2: Koteshwar on the Bhagirathi, Kulhal on the Asan, Tapoban (Tapovan) Vishnugad on the Dhauliganga and Vishnuprayag on the Alaknanda.
Three of the four pairs are settled geography. Koteshwar Dam stands on the Bhagirathi about 22 km below Tehri Dam in Tehri Garhwal. Tapovan Vishnugad takes the Dhauliganga at Tapovan, above Joshimath. Vishnuprayag's 400 MW plant draws the Alaknanda in Joshimath tehsil of Chamoli.
Fix A as 3, C as 4 and D as 2 and the code is already unique, so Kulhal falls to Asan (1) by elimination. Kulhal itself is a 30 MW UJVNL station near Vikasnagar in Dehradun district, about 4 km downstream of the Asan Barrage.
The two Chamoli projects meet at one confluence but sit on different rivers. Tapovan is on the Dhauli; Vishnuprayag taps the Alaknanda. That distinction is what separates the key from its nearest distractor.
- (a)3 2 1 4 — Koteshwar–Bhagirathi is right, but this code puts Kulhal on the Alaknanda, Tapovan Vishnugad on the Asan and Vishnuprayag on the Dhauliganga. Kulhal is in the Doon valley, far from the Alaknanda, and Tapovan is in Chamoli, far from the Asan.
The last pairing borrows a true fact: the Dhauliganga joins the Alaknanda at Vishnuprayag, the uppermost of the Panch Prayag. That is the right answer to a confluence question. The power project named Vishnuprayag, however, draws its water from the Alaknanda.
- (b)3 1 2 4 — Koteshwar and Kulhal are placed correctly here; C and D are swapped. Tapovan Vishnugad's barrage is on the Dhauliganga at Tapovan, and the Vishnuprayag plant is on the Alaknanda, so C must be 4 and D must be 2.
The swap is tempting because the two Chamoli projects converge on the Dhauliganga–Alaknanda confluence below Joshimath. Knowing that much is right; attaching the wrong river to each name is what fails. This is the closest distractor.
- (c)2 4 1 3 — This code places Koteshwar on the Alaknanda, Kulhal on the Dhauliganga, Tapovan Vishnugad on the Asan and Vishnuprayag on the Bhagirathi. Koteshwar is on the Bhagirathi in Tehri Garhwal; Kulhal runs on Yamuna-system water in Dehradun; the other two are in Chamoli.
The Koteshwar and Vishnuprayag pairings mix up the Ganga's two headstreams. The Alaknanda and the Bhagirathi unite at Devprayag to form the Ganga; above that point Koteshwar belongs to the Bhagirathi side and Vishnuprayag to the Alaknanda side.
Uttarakhand's hydropower sits in two river systems.
In Garhwal the Ganga headstreams carry the big projects: the Bhagirathi (Maneri Bhali, Tehri, Koteshwar), the Alaknanda itself (Vishnuprayag) and its tributary the Dhauliganga (Tapovan Vishnugad). In the Doon valley the Yamuna–Tons system carries UJVNL's older cascade, which ends at Kulhal below the Asan Barrage.
Reading a project name back to its river is the skill. Koteshwar is Tehri's sister dam, so it shares Tehri's river. Tapovan names the barrage site on the Dhauliganga. Vishnuprayag names the confluence, but the plant taps the Alaknanda. Kulhal names a village near the Asan's mouth.
Koteshwar is more than a downstream dam: its reservoir is the lower pond of the Tehri pumped-storage plant, and it re-regulates Tehri's peaking releases before the Bhagirathi flows on to Devprayag.
Tapovan Vishnugad, still under construction, was the site wrecked on 7 February 2021 when a glacier-triggered flash flood came down the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga; the disaster keeps the project in the news.
Kulhal is the tail of the Yamuna valley scheme, taking the combined discharge released through the Asan Barrage, whose wetland became Uttarakhand's first Ramsar site in 2020.
- Koteshwar Dam (400 MW, THDC India) is on the Bhagirathi 22 km below Tehri Dam; its first two units came online in March 2011, the remaining two in March 2012.
- Koteshwar's reservoir serves as the lower reservoir of the Tehri pumped-storage plant.
- Kulhal (3 × 10 MW, UJVNL) is a run-of-river station near Vikasnagar, Dehradun, about 4 km downstream of the Asan Barrage, commissioned in 1975.
- Kulhal's power channel carries the discharge of the Tons, Yamuna and Asan released through the Asan Barrage under Hydel Yamuna Stage-IV.
- The Asan Barrage wetland (Asan Conservation Reserve) was designated Uttarakhand's first Ramsar site in 2020.
- Tapovan Vishnugad (4 × 130 MW, NTPC) is a run-of-river project on the Dhauliganga in Chamoli district and is still under construction.
- On 7 February 2021 a glacier-triggered flash flood down the Rishiganga and Dhauliganga devastated the Tapovan Vishnugad site.
- Vishnuprayag HEP (4 × 100 MW, Jaiprakash Power Ventures) is on the Alaknanda in Joshimath tehsil, Chamoli, commissioned in 2006.
- Vishnuprayag is where the Dhauliganga meets the Alaknanda; it is the uppermost of the Panch Prayag.
- NHPC's 280 MW Dhauliganga project (commissioned 2005) is on a different Dhauliganga, the eastern one in Pithoragarh that drains to the Kali.
Option b swaps the two highlighted rows; the Chamoli pair share a confluence but not a river. Code 3 1 4 2 reads Bhagirathi–Asan–Dhauli–Alaknanda.
- Reading 'Dhauli' as NHPC's Dhauliganga project in Pithoragarh. That plant is on the eastern Dhauliganga, a Kali tributary; Tapovan Vishnugad is on the western Dhauliganga in Chamoli.
- Swapping Tapovan Vishnugad and Vishnuprayag because the two stand near the same confluence. Tapovan is the barrage on the Dhauliganga; the Vishnuprayag plant is on the Alaknanda.
- Rejecting Kulhal–Asan because UJVNL describes Kulhal's channel as carrying Tons, Yamuna and Asan water. The code is fixed by the other three pairs whatever label Kulhal carries.
- Placing Koteshwar on the Bhilangna or the Alaknanda. It is Tehri's downstream companion on the Bhagirathi.
As a four-by-four match with codes, where settling three pairs fixes the code and the fourth follows by elimination, as it does here. What the format demands is the river under each project name, and the numbered side of this match carries rivers rather than districts or developers.
The cited UPSC 2008 item asked only which state holds the Tapovan and Vishnugad projects. Here the state is a given and the river is the answer, so knowing the projects are Uttarakhand's would not carry this mark.
UPSC_2008_GS1_Q722008Same project, different level. UPSC asked which state holds the Tapovan and Vishnugad projects (Uttarakhand); UKPSC asks which river carries them (Dhauliganga). A state-level fact is the floor; the state paper goes one layer down.
UPPSC_2024_PRE_GSI_Q742024Same river geography, different object. It matches Devprayag, Rudraprayag, Karnaprayag and Tehri to their confluences, including Tehri on the Bhagirathi–Bhilangna, directly above Koteshwar. It asks about confluences rather than power projects and leaves out Vishnuprayag.
UPPSC_2023_PRE_GSI_Q502023Devprayag as the Alaknanda–Bhagirathi confluence, with Vishnu Prayag among the distractors. That question tests where the two headstreams meet; this one uses Vishnuprayag as the name of a power project on the Alaknanda side.
UKPSC_2024_PRE_GSI_Q142024Same paper, same river, opposite end. It asks where the Jadganga meets the Bhagirathi (Bhaironghati), high in Uttarkashi; here the Bhagirathi matters far downstream at Koteshwar in Tehri Garhwal. Neither question overlaps on the projects.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Which one of the following hydroelectric projects of Uttarakhand is built on the Dhauliganga that joins the Alaknanda at Vishnuprayag?
- (a)Dhauliganga Hydroelectric Project (NHPC)
- (b)Tapovan Vishnugad Hydroelectric Project
- (c)Vishnuprayag Hydroelectric Project
- (d)Koteshwar Hydroelectric Project
Answerb — Tapovan Vishnugad diverts the Dhauliganga at Tapovan in Chamoli, upstream of its meeting with the Alaknanda at Vishnuprayag.Option a is NHPC's 280 MW plant on the eastern Dhauliganga in Pithoragarh, which drains to the Kali, not the Alaknanda. Option c, despite the name, draws the Alaknanda itself. Option d is on the Bhagirathi below Tehri Dam.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Match the hydroelectric project with the agency that developed it: A. Koteshwar B. Tapovan Vishnugad C. Vishnuprayag D. Kulhal 1. NTPC 2. UJVNL 3. THDC India 4. Jaiprakash Power Ventures
- (a)3 1 4 2
- (b)1 3 4 2
- (c)3 1 2 4
- (d)3 4 1 2
Answera — Koteshwar is THDC India's dam below Tehri; Tapovan Vishnugad is NTPC's project; Vishnuprayag is the private 400 MW plant of Jaiprakash Power Ventures; Kulhal is one of UJVNL's Yamuna valley stations.Option b swaps THDC and NTPC between Koteshwar and Tapovan. Option c swaps the state utility and the private developer between Vishnuprayag and Kulhal. Option d gives Tapovan to Jaiprakash and Vishnuprayag to NTPC.
- practice — not a real PYQ
Consider the following statements about the Koteshwar Dam: 1. It is built on the Bhagirathi downstream of Tehri Dam. 2. Its reservoir serves as the lower reservoir of the Tehri pumped-storage plant. 3. It is operated by Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (UJVNL). Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
- (a)1 only
- (b)1 and 2 only
- (c)2 and 3 only
- (d)1, 2 and 3
Answerb — Koteshwar stands on the Bhagirathi about 22 km below Tehri Dam, and its reservoir is the lower pond for Tehri's pumped-storage units, so statements 1 and 2 hold.Statement 3 fails: Koteshwar, like Tehri, belongs to THDC India Limited, not the state utility UJVNL. That rules out c and d, and a drops the true statement 2.