Uhl River

Uhl is a Himalayan stream which is part of the watershed of Beas river. The river originates at the Thamsar Glacier in the Dhauladhar range of the Himalayas, flows through the Uhl valley crossing Bada Gran and Barot, both villages in the Uhl valley. In the lower part of its course, it is also known as Tiun Nala and the Uhl valley is known as Chohar valley. After passing the Chohar valley, Uhl meets the Beas river 5 km downstream from Pandoh.

Course

Uhl originates from a lake formed by the Thamsar Glacier in higher Dhauladhar range. The lake is very close to the Thamsar Pass, which lies on the trail to Bada Bhangal. From Thamsar, where it starts as a small mountain stream, Uhl reaches Palachak, a temporary settlement on the Uhl, where a tributary joins it from the right bank. 18 km downstream at Barot, Uhl is joined by Lumba Dugh from the left bank. Lumba Dugh also originates in the East of Dhauladhar range and flows along Luhardi before meeting Uhl.

On the left bank of the river Uhl in Kamand(12 km from Mandi town) permanent campus of Indian Institute of Technology Mandi is located, spread over 520 acres (2.1 km²) of land.

Hydroelectric projects

The hydroelectric projects oh Uhl river have been divided in three stages. The Shanan Power House or UHL stage-I, one of the oldest hydel power projects,started by British Rule in India is based on the Uhl. Waters of the Uhl are tapped at Barot in a reservoir using a barrage. This water is then diverted to the Shanan Power House, Jogindernagar using a tunnel and penstocks, where it runs turbines for electricity generation.
Aanother set of turbines is added at Bassi, a small village situated at the bottom of Chapprot hill and Bassi Power House (66 MW) or UHL stage-II comes into existence. Bassi Power House is the producer of cheapest hydro-electricity (since the project is based on tail-water of Shanan project).
The construction of third stage of project, Uhl Stage III (100 MW), was inaugurated at village Chulla near Tullah with two reservoir, one near the Machhyal Lake and another at Raktal village near Chulla, is currently under progress. The vision of the hydel project scheme was to construct five power stations using the same water that is drawn from the Uhl river.

Angling

Of late, with the introduction of trout in the Indian Himalayan region, fish farms have come up at the banks of Uhl. At Barot, Uhl has a government run trout breeding farm and several privately owned trout farms. The angling season starts in August end every year and continues till end of October.

References