Kishau Dam: After 8-Yr deadlock HP secures cost relief
Shimla, Sept 15
The Congress government in Himachal Pradesh has claimed a major breakthrough in the long-pending Kishau Multipurpose Project, saying it successfully negotiated with the Centre and beneficiary states to ensure that Himachal Pradesh does not have to bear the estimated Rs 2,000-crore financial burden of the project’s power component.
The 422-MW project, proposed on the Tons River along the Himachal Pradesh-Uttarakhand border, has an estimated cost of Rs 15,624 crore. Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan signed an MoU in New Delhi for implementation of the project in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah.
The agreement ends an eight-year deadlock, with the major point of contention being the financial liability to be borne by Himachal Pradesh despite the state facing displacement and submergence of land for a project whose water benefits will largely accrue to downstream states.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said his government had rejected an earlier proposal under which Himachal was expected to contribute around Rs 800 crore towards the project, citing the state’s limited financial resources.
The government had maintained that Himachal had already made substantial sacrifices for national development by allowing large tracts of agricultural and other land to be submerged under dams supplying power and water to neighbouring states. Imposing another major financial liability on the state, it argued, would be unfair.
Sukhu said that at a high-level meeting chaired by Union Home Minister Amit Shah on June 16, the Centre agreed in principle that the approximately Rs 2,000-crore cost of Himachal’s power component would instead be borne by Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, which would benefit from the project’s water component.
He also pointed out that the Centre was providing 90 per cent grant assistance for the water component and argued that Himachal should not be denied similar consideration for the power component.
Himachal is expected to receive about 1,000 million units of electricity annually from the project. The state government estimates that its power share could generate more than Rs 1,000 crore annually, providing a significant new revenue source for the financially stressed state.
Sukhu described the agreement as a major victory in protecting Himachal’s interests while enabling the long-delayed project to move forward.
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