Take over Nathpa Jhakri project from Centre: CPM

Tribune News Service

Shimla, January 20

CPM state secretariat member Tikender Singh Panwar has urged Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh to take over the 1500-MW Nathpa Jhakri hydropower project like the Jammu and Kashmir Government, which took back two hydro projects from the Union Government.

In a letter addressed to Chief Minister, which was released to media here, Panwar said the purpose of forming the NJPC, now Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL), was defeated as the idea was to increase the state’s capacity to generate electricity and to make it financially strong.

He said in 1991, then Chief Minister Shanta Kumar had signed an agreement with the Union Government to execute the project as a joint venture. Then, the number of employees of the HPSEB who were working and executing this project was 2,870, including daily wagers and engineers. The number of employees had been reduced drastically now, he said.

“The project was commissioned in September 2003 and to date, the project is generating energy which is shared in the ratio of 75:25 with 12 per cent royalty to the state of HP,” he said.

Panwar claimed the project was earning a profit of more than Rs 1,000 crore per annum by supplying energy to different states. Ironically, Himachal’s hydro power policy remains flawed as the state had to buy electricity worth Rs 1,500 crore every year, he claimed.

He said the state should take back the project from the Union Government like the J&K Government had done, adding that it would help Himachal Pradesh to come out from the debt burden of more than Rs 30,000 crore, including that of the HPSEB, which is under a debt of Rs 1,500 crore.