The Punjab Cabinet Thursday ratified an agreement signed earlier this month for immediate resumption of work on the Shahpur Kandi dam project.
The agreement was signed on September 8 between the Chief Secretaries of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir, as well as Commissioner Indus Government of India.
The dam is to come up in Gurudaspur district and the ratification was done at the cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh, an official spokesperson said.
The project, aimed to be completed in three years, would generate 206 MW (Megawatt) of additional Hydro Power, leading to irrigation and power benefits worth Rs.852.73 crore annually.
With the completion of the project, the Ranjit Sagar Dam in Pathankot would operate its optimum capacity.
It would also help in regulating releases at Shahpur Kandi Dam, thus helping improve irrigation facilities to the command area under Uppar Bari Doab Canal (UBDC).
Jammu and Kashmir would get its share of water from Shahpur Kandi dam project, the spokesperson said.
Notably, an agreement was signed on January 20, 1979 between the chief ministers of Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir regarding Thein Dam project. The new project consists of Thein Dam, which has been renamed as Ranjit Sagar Dam, and was commissioned in 2000.
Work on the main dam and head regulators had commenced in March 2013. The construction was going on in full swing when suddenly, on August 30, 2016, the J&K authorities intervened and stopped the work in J&K territory, citing the enactment of Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004, even though the Punjab government had categorically stated that PTAA 2004 was not applicable to riparian states like J&K and Himachal Pradesh.
With the intervention of the Union Ministry of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation and Prime Ministers Office, an agreement was signed between irrigation secretaries of both the states on March 3, 2017, subject to approval by the respective Government.
It was unanimously agreed that the work on the Shahpur Kandi Dam project would resume as soon as the respective state governments formally approved the decision.
The ambitious Shahpur Kandi dam project on river Ravi is a major irrigation project which will benefit both Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab.
Jammu and Kashmir is entitled to 0.69 MAF (Million acre-foot) of water from Ravi and it is utilizing only 0.215 MAF.
This project will benefit the districts of Kathua and Samba, besides catering to some parts of Jammu district, the spokesperson said.
It will irrigate 32,000 hectares (80,000 acres) of agricultural land in the Kandi areas, upstream and downstream along the Jammu-Pathankot national highway in Samba and Kathua districts.
The project will be completed by the Punjab government in three years and the water is expected to flow to Jammu and Kashmir by the end of 2020, the spokesperson said.
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