Shimla: Himachal Pradesh Government under the leadership of the Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu achieved yet another milestone by protecting the interests of the state in the Kishau Dam Project.
Consistent efforts of the Chief Minister resulted in a major breakthrough in paving way for construction of the 422 MW Kishau dam project proposed to be constructed on Tons river across the border of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh at an estimated cost of Rs. 15000 Crore approx.
In a high level meeting held with the Union Home Minister Amit Shah at New Delhi today, Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has strongly presented the case of the state and succeeded in breaking the eight years old deadlock regarding bearing the financial cost. The Centre Government has in principle agreed that estimated cost of Rs. 2000 Crore on power component of the state’s side will be borne by the beneficiary states of water component of this project, Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana.
Due to the strong pursuance on the matter by the Chief Minister, this financial burden could be saved, which the previous government could not achieve. He said that the previous government had agreed to give Rs. 800 Crore state’s share which the present government refused in the interest of the state keeping in view the limited resources of the state. He also mentioned that for water component, Centre Government is providing 90 percent grant and it is not fair that such assistance is not being given for power component.
He further said that while the population of the state in the area will be displaced, so the state will bear maximum loss due to the project. Therefore, it was unfair for the state to bear financial burden further and it’s contribution towards nations progress should be compensated suitably.
Chief Minister said that state will get its share of 100 crore unit per year from the power component of the project which amounts to about Rs. 600 crore after the construction of the project which is yet another addition to the state’s financial resources.
He said that present government had always put interests of the state and it’s people above and effectively protected them. He said that this is a major victory in the battle of the state in it’s fight for securing the legitimate share of the state in power projects, securing pending arrears etc.
Union Minister for Power Manohar Lal Khattar, Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil, Chief Ministers of beneficiary states, senior officers of concerned ministries, Chief Secretary K K Pant, Principal Advisor to the Chief Minister Ram Subhag Singh, Director Energy Rakesh Prajapati were present in the meeting.
