Uttarakhand has demanded 1,000 Mw of free power from the Centre for shelving the 480-Mw Pala Maneri and 381-Mw Bhaironghati projects.
Chief Minister Ramesh Pokhriyal Nishank would shortly write a letter to the Centre for compensating the loss of the two key projects. “The Centre must compensate us with at least 1,000 Mw free power in case these projects are shelved,” said Nishank.
The CM also described the decision as “illegal” claiming only the Ganga river basin authority was authorised to take a final decision. However, top officials here maintained that the government was taking the legal opinion under the high court’s order last year whether a group of ministers can take a decision on the projects.
At the centre of controversy are three hydro power projects – 600 Mw Loharinag-Pala, 480 Mw Pala-Maneri and 381 Mw Bhaironghati, the construction for which have since been stopped. While Loharinag Pala is being built by NTPC, the other two are being developed by the state-owned Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (UJVNL).
While NTPC’s Lohari Nagpala which is being built in Uttarkashi district with an investment of Rs 2,500-3,000 crore, is at a very advance stage, the UJVNL had also done considerable work on Pala Maneri and Bhaironghati. The centre has set up a committee to take a final decision on Loharinag-Pala on which NTPC has so far invested Rs 600 crore. UJVNL has invested Rs 100 crore on Pala Maneri.
Avadhash Kaushal, chairperson of RLEK, a Dehra Dun-based NGO, has also threatened to move the HVC over the issue. “We will again approach the HC as the loss of these two projects would be a big blow to power-starved Uttarakhand,” said Kaushal under whose petition the high court had asked the Ganga river basin authority to take a final decision.
Significantly, the Centre’s decision to scrap the two projects came in less than a week after the campaign by the All India Akhara Parishad, a powerful body of top seers and sadhus, against these hydropowerprojects had already fizzled.
