The entire Western Ghats must be considered as ecologically sensitive, especially to ensure the sustainability of the rivers of the Indian Peninsula, the Madhav Gadgil Committee report has said.

The Karnataka Power Corporation Limited (KPCL) will invite tenders in a few months for setting up of a 1450 MW capacity Pumped Storage power generating units across Sharavathi and Kali rivers.

The project, which involves pumping back of water used for generating power into reservoirs, aims at setting up a 800 MW unit at Varahi and 650 MW unit at Sharavathi hydro-stations. The technology will be obtained from Japan the total project cost is estimated to be around Rs 4500 crores.