Thaindian News

Srinagar, June 6 (IANS) A minister in Jammu and Kashmir cabinet has been fuming at the National Hydro Electric Power Development Corporation (NHPC) for “draining the state’s power resources”.

For nearly a month now, Taj Mohiuddin, the Congress minister, has locked horns with the NHPC for an alleged raw deal with regard to the 690 megawatt Salal power project built on the Chenab river in the Jammu region.

The state, he has said, gets only 12 percent of the project’s installed capacity — or roughly 84 MW.

Taj claimed to have “discovered the original memorandum signed between the state government and the NHPC which states that the NHPC would share the generated electric power from Salal project 50-50 with the state government”.

He also claimed that he has access to papers indicating that the NHPC was also bound to share with the state government the profits made through the sale of the Salal project power.

Interestingly, the state has been getting only 12 percent of the power generated from the Salal project as its share from the NHPC.

“Work on the Salal power project was started by the union ministry of power and irrigation in 1973. The NHPC came into being in 1975. The fact is that it was a decision of the state cabinet in 1975 that NHPC should be allowed to go ahead with the project, provided it agreed to share the generated power with the state on a 50-50 basis,” said a retired engineer who did not wish to be named.

“The NHPC said in its communication that if the terms of the corporation were acceptable to the state, according to which only 12 percent share of generated power would be given to it, a letter of consent be sent so that the project could be completed.”

“It was the state government that finally agreed to the 12 percent power share and now we are hearing this controversy about the state being robbed of its resources,” he added.

Addressing a seminar here Sunday, Taj said the NHPC would have to pay Rs.934 crore to the state government as the first instalment of water usage charges.

It must be mentioned that water usage charges became payable to the state government by the NHPC for all power projects built on the local rivers after the Water Resources Regulatory and Management Act was legislated here in 2010.

The minister said the water usage charges payable to the state government would touch Rs.1,100 crore.

“The money could be utilised for generating more power by the state by building its own hydro power projects here,” the minister said.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who also holds the electric power portfolio, has so far steered clear of the controversy but one of his senior ministers said “the NHPC is behaving like the East India Company”.