According to news agency PTI reports, the Arunachal Pradesh government has launched an ambitious plan to build 50 mini hydropower projects in the region bordering China to provide electricity to the remote villages and also to the border guarding forces which face challenges such as poor connectivity and mountainous terrain.

These 50 micro, mini and small hydropower projects are being built under the ‘Golden Jubilee Border Village Illumination Programme’, and are of 10–100 Kilowatt (KW) capacity which is being built at an estimated cost of Rs 200 crore.

“The 50 projects are being implemented in a phased manner and under Phase-I, 17 projects with an installed capacity of 1255 KW and at an estimated cost of Rs 50 crore, have been taken up,” Chief Minister Pema Khandu told PTI.

According to the report, these are stand-alone projects and include localised transmission and distribution components to facilitate essential services to the border villages in one go.

Lack of reliable power supply due to limitations in providing grid connectivity to these remote areas is a huge constraint for civilians as well as the border guarding forces deployed in the region said the CM.

The border guarding forces are mostly dependent on diesel generators for power which is costly, the report said.

“Ample presence of water resources like rivers and natural springs along with heavy rainfall in the mountainous border regions of the state serve as a great advantage in extraction of energy from micro-hydel projects,” the CM said.

Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein said these 17 projects located in 11 districts will cover 123 border villages benefitting 10,185 people.

“In addition, 15 establishments of the Indian Army, Indo Tibetan Border Police and Border Roads Organisation, covering about 1,800 personnel, will be electrified under these 17 projects,” said Mein, who also holds the charge of the Power Department of Arunachal Pradesh.

On Monday, Union Home Minister Amit Shah, during his visit to Kibithoo, launched nine of these mini-micro hydroelectric projects, which have a total capacity of 725 KW.

One of these projects, Dichu Nallah (100 KW), is located just along the Line of Actual Control (LAC), near Kibithoo in Anjaw district.It had faced problems from close scrutiny of the China’s People Liberation Army (PLA) because of its proximity to the LAC, stated the report.

“However, despite several hurdles, we could successfully complete the project within a very short span of time. We have also changed the colour of the project from bottle green to red as it is a civilian asset,” said executive engineer of the project Dharmendra Gogoi.

Most of the assets in the are painted green, which means the asses belongs to the Army utilities while some are painted in red colour meaning, it is a civilian asset. Arunachal Pradesh has the longest international border in the country with a total length of 1,863 km. Out of the total international boundary, the state shares 1,126 km border with Tibet.

The deputy chief minister said such projects are not only cost-effective but also environmentally sustainable.

“Arunachal has till date installed many such projects during last few years. In fact last year the state earned more than four lakhs of carbon credit by generating power through these micro-hydels,” the deputy chief minister said.