The Environment Ministry has granted a fresh environmental clearance to the Sawalkote hydroelectric project on the Chenab river in Ramban, Jammu and Kashmir.

First approved in 2017, the project gained renewed momentum after India suspended the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan in April 2025, following the Pahalgam terror attack. Now led by NHPC, the project will feature a 192.five-mtrs. RCC gravity dam with a total installed capacity of 1,856 MW, expected to generate 8,000 million units of electricity annually. Initially estimated at Rs 22,000 crore, the cost has now surged to Rs 31,380 crore.

The reservoir will submerge over 1,159 hectares, including 847 ha of forest land, affecting 13 villages and displacing 1,477 families. The government has earmarked Rs 190 crore for resettlement. Though not a storage dam, it is the largest of its kind on the eastern Indus rivers, and holds strategic significance post-IWT suspension.