Omar Puts NHPC On Notice

‘No New Project To The Corporation Till It Returns Uri, Salal, Dulhasti’
 No new project will be sanctioned to NHPC till it hands over the Uri, Salal and Dulhasti power projects to the state, Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said today.
“Let me tell them (NHPC) categorically that we will not give any project to NHPC alone in future unless it agrees to give back the projects we have asked for,” Omar said while addressing a public gathering at Kishtwar today. “We are strongly and vehemently advocating the return of Uri, Salal and Dulhasti power projects back to the state by NHPC to compensate the losses we are regularly incurring due to the Indus Water Treaty,” he said, adding, NHPC is putting hurdles in the state’s efforts.
NHPC has taken full advantage of these projects and it is now their duty to return these projects for the state’s economic betterment without further delay, he said.
“I am hopeful that Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh and UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi will use their offices to make NHPC return the power projects to the state as early as possible,” he added.
He highlighted the state’s potential to produce substantial quantity of hydel power and said the economic prosperity of Jammu and Kashmir lies in harnessing its hydel power potential and utilizing it for industrial, agricultural and other purposes, besides selling the surplus. The Rangarajan Committee constituted by the Prime Minister as well as the Interlocutors recommended that NHPC return the power projects to the state, the Chief Minister said adding he will continue to work tirelessly to make it happen.
Omar referred to the launch of four important hydel power projects of Retle, Packaldul, Kawar and Kiru sanctioned by his government in the Chenab Valley and said the power generated from these projects will catapult the state’s power scenario.
Hitting out at Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) ‘propaganda’ on water resources, the Chief Minister said though it is crying hoarse now, PDP lost voice on the power policy during its tenure. Questioning the locus-standi of PDP on this issue, Omar said not even one mega watt capacity of power project was launched in the state during the PDP government.
“Crying hoarse is something else and taking action when in power is something different,” he said and added that his government has launched dozens of mega, small and micro projects through the State Power Development Corporation, in PPP mode, as joint ventures and also in IPP pattern.
Injustice has been meted out to the state by granting rights on the waters of JK rivers to Pakistan without consulting Jammu and Kashmir and compensation.
He said that financial health of the state could only be improved by utilizing the state’s water resources and his government is working on this policy without any political consideration, which is clear by the fact that completion of these projects will go beyond the 2014 Assembly elections.
The state’s economic status can be viewed by the fact that it has a total annual income of Rs 6,500 crore from all sources and has to pay Rs 13,500 crore as salary to its employees and Rs 1,500 crore as pension, annually.
“This makes me visit New Delhi time and again for financial support,” he said.
“To achieve this goal, harnessing of hydel power potential is only way out,” he added.
A scheme costing over Rs 50 crore has been sanctioned for providing drinking water facility to Kishtwar area, Omar said adding, locals will be preferred for employment in the power projects and necessary directions in this regard have already been issued.