Uri, Salal Hydel Units Not To Be Handed Over To J & K Govt

The government seems to have finally endorsed the power ministrys decision not to hand over the National Hydroelectric Power Corporations (NHPC) 480 mw Uri and 690 mw Salal stage I and II projects to the Jammu and Kashmir government.

Though the Centre has not formally rejected the state governments demand, the Centres position was clear from Prime Minister Deve Gowdas failure to gift these projects when he recently visited the state to commission the Uri project.

Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah had demanded these two projects to shore up the states finances. The power ministry had opposed the transfer of the projects to the state government.

 

National Hydroelectric Power Corporation officials have heaved a sigh of relief since the gifting of 1,170 mw generation from the two projects to the state would have meant hiving off half the total 2,133 mw generating capacity of the corporation.

Moreover, gifting away these projects could have also triggered similar demands from other states, especially Himachal Pradesh which has the 540 mw Chamera I and 198 mw Bairasiul projects, and Uttar Pradesh which has 120 mw Tanakpur project.

Official sources point out that the other northern states, which are the main beneficiaries of the two projects, would have certainly opposed the transfer of the projects to Jammu and Kashmir.

The transfer would also have involved the future of over 4,000 employees of National Hydroelectric Power Corporation working in Jammu and Kashmir. As the corporation already has surplus manpower, it will go into the red if the state government refuses to take responsibility of the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation employees there in case the projects were taken over.