The centre is mulling a proposal to transfer 25 per cent equity share of Uttar Pradesh in the multi-purpose Tehri project to Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank has said.
A proposal to this effect has been sent to the home ministry by the union power ministry, he said. “We are hoping that the home ministry will take a positive decision,” said Nishank after taking up the matter with Home Minister P Chidambaram in New Delhi.
Under the proposal, Nishank said the hill state would get 250 Mw of power from the project with immediate effect and also a profit of Rs 72 crore will be earned.
Faced with an acute shortage of power, the Uttarakhand government has been intensively campaigning for the transfer of the aforementioned equity share of the state in the Tehri project, the first phase of which is generating 1000 Mw of power.
During his last meeting with union power minister Sushil Kumar Shinde in New Delhi in June, the Chief Minister had strongly made the demand of the equity transfer under the provision of the Uttar Pradesh Reorganization Act 2000. There is a clause under the section 47(3) of the Act, under which investments made prior to the the creation of Uttarakhand should go to the state where the project is located. Uttar Pradesh is a 25 per cent shareholder in the Tehri project, while the centre’s share is 75 per cent.
Uttarakhand currently gets 12-13 per cent of free power from Tehri dam which has been built with an investment of Rs 9000 crore.
More From This Section
The Tehri project provides 1000 Mw peaking power to 9 beneficiaries — Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana, Jammu & Kashmir, Chandigarh, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh. Apart from an annual generation of 2797 Mw power, the project also provides irrigation benefits to 8.74 lacs hectare area in Uttar Pradesh and drinking water facilities to Delhi (300 cusecs) and Uttar Pradesh (200 cusecs).
The power demand in Uttarakhand is growing by 10 per cent to 15 per cent every year which has now touched to 27-28 million units this year. After failing to make headway in the hydropower sector despite its tremendous potential, the government is exploring various new options to increase power in the state.