Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has given power generation the first priority in his agenda for development of the State. He has given vent to this desire very often and the power department remains under his control. An overview of power development policy formulated by competent officials indicates that the Government, fully seized of the importance of adequate power supply in the state, is doing all it can to increase generation of power to maximum capacity. Big and small power projects are underway and the Chief Minister desires to make them time bound. The J&K has set itself a target of 3231.85 MW during 12th Plan Period for which an investment of minimum of over Rs 32,000 crore would be required. In order to rope in private participation in the power sector, a very successful model—Independent Power Producer (IPP) is being followed. Under this model entire capital is brought in by a private independent infrastructure company with Government contribution being only in form of ensuring availability of land and facilitating or entering into a power purchase agreement.
In J&K, there are 26 such projects with a generation capacity as high as 1168 MW. The largest project out of these is Ratle Hydroelectric Project, which can be termed as the flagship project with its individual generation capacity calculated at 850 MW. The Power Development Department has formulated proposal for granting approval to enhancement in power generation capacity of Ratle from 690 Mega Watts to 850 Mega Watts. Since Chief Minister has already accorded approval to this proposal in his capacity as Minister for Power, the proposal will certainly receive the Cabinet’s nod in its next meeting.
Originally the generation capacity for Ratle Hydro Electric Project coming up in Kishtwar district, was 690 MW based on the Detailed Project Report prepared by the NHPC. However, when M/s GVK Development Projects Limited grabbed the project through international competitive bidding, the company reviewed the DPR and subsequently the capacity of the project worked out to 850 MW including 30 MW for utilizing the environment flow. A major concern of the engineers and experts was to find out the impact of Ratle on projects downside of Baglihar. Consequently, on the directions of Central Electricity Authority, M/s GVK Development Projects Limited got a detailed study conducted through Danish Hydraulic Institute. Based on various scenarios the conclusion was that there will be no impact of Ratle project on existing Baglihar, the impact of Ratle will be absorbed before the Premnagar site, and as such, its impact on the Baglihar and other downstream projects will be of no concern. Obviously, the Government has taken into account all precautionary measures to ensure no interference with the major Baglihar project in the same area. An increase of 170 mw of electric power will improve supply position to some extent, which has been facing acute shortage and power cuts.
However, we must reiterate that loss of power in transmission and owing to pilfering, are major hurdles in reforming power supply system in the state. There is lack of civic sense among the people but more than that, there are some lacunae in the system and some functionaries of department are equally involved in the misuse of power. We hope that the Power Department will address this need. An effective way of stemming this rot would be to bring the culprits to book and give them exemplary punishment that should work a deterrent for others in the department.
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