Not a single power project awarded for construction during 2 years of PDP-BJP rule

During its more than two-year rule in J&K, the PDP-led coalition government hasn’t allocated a single power project for execution, even as state’s power demand during the period has grown by around 15 percent.
“Not a single MW project has been allocated for construction by this government,” a senior official told Kashmir Post on Monday.
When the PDP came to power in alliance with BJP in March 2015, one of its major poll planks was to get back power projects from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation and focus on energy generation at local level to meet the growing demands.
The official said last time the projects awarded for construction during the previous government included 48-MW Lower Kalnai, 37.50-MW Parnai, and 9-MW each Hanu and Dah.
At least six projects of cumulative capacity of 3506-MW including New Ganderbal, Sawalkote, Kirthai-I, Kirthai-II, Achoor Gurez and Ujh are pending execution clearance at different stages.
The official said more than two years of delay in handing over 390-MW New Ganderbal project for execution, despite completion of all formalities, nails the government’s laxity as far as expansion in energy generation sector was concerned.
“The government has even shelved 850-MW Rattle power project which is not only doable but most viable project on the Chenab basin,” said the official of the Power Development Corporation. For the past 34 months, the J&K government has failed to resume work on the project in Kishtwar district after the company executing it left the construction midway following “controversy over tariff rates.”
Another official rued inaction on part of authorities concerned to clear awarding of “equally doable and viable” Kirthai-I and Kirthai-II power projects. He said the Central Electricity Authority, which approved techno-economic clearance of the projects, had earlier raised some queries over the Detailed Projects Reports for Kirthai project.
“The entire process was re-done but now despite all the clearance the project has been kept on hold,” said the official.
While the State continues to witness delay in execution of hydropower projects, some of them conceived more than two decades ago like the New Ganderbal, the energy demands continue to swell, forcing the government to spend crores of rupees annually on import of the energy from outside.
At present the generation from local hydropower projects owned by PDC including 900-MW Baglihar-I and II hovers around 1212 MW while the energy demand is more than 2600-MW.
“Since 2015, the power demand has grown by more than 15 percent but the PDP-BJP coalition hasn’t awarded any project and it seems that the focus has been lost as far as energy sector is concerned,” said an official.
In their ‘agenda of alliance’, the PDP and BJP has agreed to work out the roadmap for return of two power projects from the NHPC which owns 2009-MW worth projects in J&K. However the Government has failed to make any headway on this front.
Civil Society member Shakeel Qalander said the government was in “deep slumber” as far as power generation was concerned. “This (power generation) is not only about meeting the local power requirement but also giving a flip to the state economy. But the government has miserably failed,” he alleged.
He said not only has the government failed to award any project for construction, it hasn’t made any progress on return of the projects from the NHPC.
“Their tall claims of expansion in local generation and getting back the power projects from the NHPC have fallen flat,” said Qalander.
Sources said lack of initiatives and government’s failure to monitor progress on decisions taken in the energy sector were the main causes for the “downfall” in the state’s generation sector.
“Neither there is any monitoring nor any accountability. This generation sector is not the priority of the Government and it has gone out of the focus,” said the official.
The power minister Nirmal Singh said the Government was “focused on expansion” in the generation sector. “The work for awarding the projects is going on,” Singh said.
To a question that in most of the projects, on hold, all the required clearances have already been secured and only final approval was needed on part of the government to start the construction, Singh evaded a direct response. “The projects can’t come up in two years. We are in the process of awarding the projects,” he said.

Related posts