Uttarakhand has decided to move the Supreme Court for the transfer of its share in the multi-purpose 2,400-Mw Tehri hydel project which is being held by Uttar Pradesh.
For this purpose, the hill state has hired top lawyers, including Gopal Subramanium, to file the petition on its behalf to get back 25 per cent of the equity. This is equal to approximately 350 Mw of power from the mega project on Bhagirathi river. The third phase of 1,000 Mw is currently under construction.
The 25 per cent share, top officials here claimed, would give the state a tremendous relief from acute power shortage. On an average Uttarakhand spends around Rs 200-250 crore every month to purchase power from different private companies. Last month, Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL) purchased power worth Rs 302 crore which is turning out to be very costly affair for it.
Significantly, the move is coming at a time when the two states are engaged in assembly elections.
Under the petition, the government would lay its claim on 350 Mw of power from the project along with other profits earned since the commissioning of the first phase (1,000 Mw) in 2007. The second phase (400 Mw) was commissioned last year.
Faced with an acute shortage of power, the government had been intensively campaigning for the transfer of the 25 per cent equity share in the project, the first and second phases of which are generating 1,400 Mw of power.
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Uttarakhand has taken up the issue with the Centre demanding the transfer under the provision of the Uttar Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2000. There is a clause under the section 47(3) of the Act, under which investments made prior to 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 1000 crore.
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.
Business as usual during polls
It may be a policy paralysis in the poll-bound states of Uttarakhand, Punjab and Manipur.
But otherwise, it’s business as usual in all the three states till March 6 when the counting of votes begins.
Fresh from the pangs of elections in Uttarakhand, Chief Minister B C Khanduri is participating in a series of meetings. He yesterday held a department-wise review of the state annual plan 2011-12, the centrally-sponsored and the externally-aided schemes with senior state administration officials. At the meeting which was organized at the secretariat in Dehradun, Khanduri directed all the secretaries and the heads of departments to fully utilise the remaining funds, sanctioned in the financial year, in time.
Significantly Khanduri’s move to hold meetings came after the election commission gave relief to all three states of Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur to review the implementation of ongoing projects.
In identical letters to the three poll-bound states, K N Bhar, secretary of the election commission, said the commission has allowed tours of ministers and officials for the purpose of reviewing the implementation of ongoing projects. Except for all those officials on poll duty, others can also participate in such meetings.
Calling bids, evaluations of bids, finalization of bids and processes of awards or contracts can be undertaken by the government officials in these states, the letter said.
“We may not be able to take new policy decisions but otherwise we are completing our pending works,” said Alok Jain, additional chief secretary of the hill state.
Meanwhile, several government departments and corporations have issued tenders to complete the remaining works following the EC’s relief. “For us it is business as usual,” said Rakesh Sharma, Managing Director of the State Infrastructure and Industrial Corporation of Uttarakhand Limited [SIDCUL], the state-run nodal agency for industrial development. SIDCUL is going ahead with its plans to allocate industrial plots at Sigaddi growth centre in Pauri district.
“During this month, we are hoping to finish all the pending works,” said Vinod Fonia, secretary Rural Development.