By IANS
New Delhi : No specific study has been done of the impact of the melting of Himalayan glaciers on hydroelectric power plants in India, parliament was informed Monday.
Replying to a question, Minister of Power Sushilkumar Shinde said planning of hydroelectric projects was based on the observed and estimated rainfall and the run-off data.
If the present scenario of receding glaciers is accelerated, there may be some reduction in the river discharge.
However, the major part of the river waters is contributed by snowfall and precipitation, which is likely to go up with global warming.
The continuous retreat of glaciers may lead to marginal shortage of water in the Himalayan rivers. However, the major part of the glacier melt run-off was during June-September, which is the time for monsoon activity, he said.
Marginal decrease in glacier waters may be compensated by increased monsoon activity, the minister said.
In reply to another question, Shinde said several major initiatives have been taken by the government to overcome the problems of the power sector, including creation of financially viable thermal project sites aggregating over 100,000 MW which have been identified.
The minister said the other initiatives are development of ultra mega power projects of about 4,000 MW capacity each under tariff based competitive bidding route as was done in the case of Sasan in Madhya Pradesh.