Rakib Altaf
SRINAGAR: The government in Jammu and Kashmir has hired consultants to quantify losses caused to the state by the water-sharing agreement between India and Pakistan.
Under the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) of 1960, India has got nearly exclusive rights over the waters of the Punjab rivers while similar rights have been ceded to Pakistan on the rivers flowing through the state of Jammu and Kashmir.
As a result, the J&K state is unable to build huge dams on its rivers for purposes of irrigation or power generation.
All the power projects in the state are run-of-the-river type. The losses are huge in winter when the water level in the rivers recedes, drastically bringing down the power generation to nearly 25 percent.
The state government has for long been demanding a just share in the power generated through dams built on the rivers in Punjab.
It has also been demanding compensation from the central government for the losses suffered due to the IWT so far.
The state cabinet, at a meeting in Jammu on Tuesday, accorded sanction to hiring M/S Halcrow Consulting India Pvt. Ltd. to quantify the losses, an official spokesman said.
One of the five working groups set up by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh years ago has recommended transfer of at least one hydel power project built by the NHPC (National Hydroelectric Power Corporation) in J&K to the state.
The centre has not accepted the recommendations so far.
The state government has to spend thousands of crores of rupees on the purchase of power every year. The Power Development Department has so far failed to realise revenue anywhere close to the power bill.
This has put brakes on the state’s economic development. The state has an identified potential of generating 20,000 Megawatts of hydel power which has so far remained mostly untapped due to shortage of funds.
