Nathpa hydel power generation up by 47%

Power generation has risen substantially in the Nathpa Jhakri hydel power project, which has registered a net profit of Rs 732.71 crore. "The net profit is 47 per cent higher than last year's Rs 498.22 crore," said a spokesman of the Nathpa project here.

The company's board of directors has declared 32 per cent dividend amounting to Rs 235 crore.

This will be shared between the equity holders-- the government of India and the Himachal Pradesh government-- having 75 per cent and 25 per cent equity respectively in the country's largest hydel project.

Power generation from the company's 1,500 Mw Nathpa Jhakri Hydro Power Station during the period surged from 4,055 MU (MUs) to 5,941 MU.

While Himachal Pradesh is supplied 12 per cent of the electricity generated free of cost, it also gets 25 per cent of the balance generation at bus bar rates.

The remaining 66 per cent electricity is supplied to the beneficiary states of northern grid -- Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttrakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh.

In the current financial year, the power station has already generated more than 3,672.5 million units electricity which is not only 359.5 MU more then the

MoU's target but is also 617.84 MU more than the corresponding period last year. The power project targets to generate 6,720 MU of electricity during the current financial year.