Power projects in limbo as Govt fails to expedite works

Avtar Bhat
JAMMU, Dec 12: Though J&K has been grappling with power crisis for years together it has failed to expedite work on several power projects which have been taken up in hand many years back. Besides, some projects are held up due to various technical snags with State Government showing no concern to restore them on war footing basis.
Two hydro electric power projects which are facing Government’s apathy continuously included 93 mw New Ganderbal Hydel Project and 9 mw Sewa Hydel Project.
The New Ganderbal Hydel Project had been conceived way back in 1975 soon after Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah took the reigns of State Government and made an announcement in this regard during his visit to Ganderbal in Kashmir valley and the nine mw Sewa Hydel Project in Basholi tehsil of Kathua district which developed a snag in 2013 and has not been restored since then.
What can be described the sorry state of affairs in the functioning of the Power Development Corporation (PDC) looking after the construction of new power projects in the State that over a year back the concerned Chief Engineers of Ganderbal and Sewa Power Projects announced that the work will be started soon but to no avail.
According to sources a portion of water conductor of Sewa Hydel Project was damaged due to the flash floods in river Ravi in 2013 and since then the PDC authorities have failed to renovate the same for reasons best known to them. The delay in the renovation of the project has not only deprived the State of the power supply generated from the project but also a huge economic loss also, sources added.
The then Chief Engineer of Project had said early last year that the tenders have been invited and the work will be started soon but surprisingly after a lapse of over one year the work is still in the tendering stage and no headway has been made in restoration of the project for last three years now.
When contacted, Chief Engineer, Baglihar Hydro Electric Project, Abdul Wahid who has been given the additional charge of Civil Investigation and Design (CID), Jammu, said that the tenders for the water conductor and other civil works of Sewa Power Project, will be published soon.
It may be mentioned that the power projects of Sewa and Chenani fall under the jurisdiction of Chief Engineer CID Jammu.
To redesign the project on modern lines, the PDC has hired the IIT Roorkie as Consultancy and the proposal submitted to it by the J&K PDC to ascertain the future suitability of the Project has been received by the concerned Chief Engineer with its approval only few days back from IIT Roorkie and after going through the same the Corporation will issue the notification for tenders and the work will be started within one and a half month, he said.
He added that the renovation work of water conductor of Chenani IIIrd will also be taken up in hand and the proposal for this is also in final stage as the IIT Roorkie was also hired as consultancy for the same. The construction of water conductor which has leakages will be taken up in hand in one month.
However not satisfied with the way of working of the concerned Government agency, people of Basholi said that despite the fact that the State is facing acute power crisis the Government is totally non serious in averting it. “When it took the State Government over three years in restoring a micro power project how can it claim to construct the big power projects”?, asked Sanjeev Sharma a political and social activist from the area.
Same is the case with 93 mw New Ganderbal Power Project the land acquisition process of which was started in late nineties but project could not see the light of the day for last two decades. Last year Chief Engineer of the Project assigned various reasons for delay in starting of work on this much talked about power project and an impression was given that the work will be started soon at that time too. But after a lapse of over one year since then the project is still in tendering process.
According to authoritative sources, the announcement of constructing another power  project in Ganderbal along with old one was made decades back by then Chief Minister Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah in 1975 after he took over the reigns of the State Government. Later no headway was made till 1983-84 in this regard. However, in 1984 the project was revised to enhance the generation capacity to 45 mws, sources added.
Sources said to start the work on project two construction divisions were established in 1992 and notification was issued for land acquisition. But due to turmoil the work could not take pace. Again the process of constructing the project was started in 2011 after a delay of about nine years. The DPRs were framed and parameters of the project were also changed. The project report was again revised to increase its generation capacity from 45 mws to 93 mws. The clearance of Central Water Commissions (CWC), Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Indus Water Treaty (IWT) were sought in 2014, sources added.
Sources said the project was also given technical sanction and the date for laying of foundation stone was too announced. Later, the proposal went to Cabinet and tenders were also invited but due to certain hitches the construction could not be started, sources added.
Sources said that the infrastructure is ready and process of land acquisition is almost complete for Rs 800 crore project which will be constructed in PPP mode. The Project has a 12 to 13 km long tunnel and it will have its head works at Preng the origin of Ganderbal Power Project first. The New Ganderbal is a multi faceted project which besides generating electricity will provide a source for irrigation of land and drinking water supply to various areas including Rangil, Alasteng and Nishat in Srinagar. Besides, it will serve the drinking water demand of various parts of Srinagar, sources added.
When contacted Shah Faisal MD Power Development Corpo-ration (PDC) said Corporation is vigorously pursuing  the project  and with regard to allotment of contract PDC 2nd Board meet held in November this year decided the same and it was later referred to Cabinet.  He said the Corporation is waiting for Cabinet approval. The 93 MW Power Project has been bided out for Rs 820 crore as lowest bid, he added.
He said that Government is vigorously pursuing the repairs of 9 mw Sewa Project also which developed a snag in 2013. The Department has hired IIT Roorkie Consultancy for technical guidance and start of renovation work, he added.
However, people in Ganderbal said they can’t trust the authorities any more now as they have heard of this project since our childhood but till date nothing has materialized. Expressing apprehensions Mir Ghulam Rasool, a local political and social activist said the Government lacks will power to construct the project which can boost the economy of the people in this area and also add to the power generation of the State.

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