Fresh impetus for the Sawalkote Hydroelectric Project , planned as a 1.8-GW scheme on the Chenab, coincides with India’s unilateral suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) after the Pahalgam attack, giving it a geopolitical symbolism that risks overshadowing questions relating to the environmental impact. The Union Ministries of Power and Home Affairs have repeatedly stressed its strategic value to press for exemptions from impact and carrying capacity studies. But other factors cannot be wished away with a wand. The Chenab already hosts the Dulhasti, Baglihar, and Salal projects, in a “bumper-to-bumper” hydropower corridor. Ignoring cumulative impact here means underestimating compounded sediment loads and slope instability. The gravity dam proposed at Sawalkote, despite being descri

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