Uttarakhand moves SC for UP shares in dam

With THDC India earning profit from its Tehri hydel project, the Uttarakhand government has moved the Supreme Court for the transfer of 25 per cent shares of the joint venture mini ratna company held by Uttar Pradesh.

The court has issued notices to both the states in this regard, said state chief secretary Subhash Kumar. Uttar Pradesh is a 25 per cent shareholder in the venture, where the Centre's share is 75 per cent. Uttarakhand gets 12-13 per cent of free power from THDC's multi-purpose 1,400-Mw Tehri dam, cost Rs 10,000 crore.

During the past few years, the hill state had been trying hard to get back 25 per cent equity of Uttar Pradesh.

Faced with heavy line losses and fat power purchase bills, state-run Uttarakhand Power Corporation Limited (UPCL), the sole power distribution company in the hill state, is running into heavy losses, which is a big worry for the state government.

The 25 percent share, top officials here claimed, would give the hill state tremendous relief from the daily power shortage of 4-8 million units which it faces during lean seasons. On an average, UPCL spends around Rs 2,000 crore every year to purchase power from the open market at much higher rates than what it purchases from the state-run UJVN Ltd.

Besides a 25 percent share, the government is also laying its claim on other profits earned since the commissioning of the first phase [1000 Mw] in 2007 by THDC. The second phase [400 Mw] was commissioned in 2011.