HP-Punjab tussle over power project intensifies

The ongoing dispute between Himachal Pradesh and neighbouring Punjab over the Shanan Hydroelectric Power project appears to be escalating, as Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday urged the Centre to intervene and facilitate the transfer of the project to the state once the 99-year lease expires in March 2024.

Following a letter sent by the Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister to his Punjab counterpart Bhagwant Mann on May 17, requesting the handover of the Shanan Hydroelectric Power project, the AAP-led government has firmly refused to relinquish control over the project. Mann said it was unfair that the matter was being raised again considering it had already been settled previously.

In an attempt to resolve the issue, Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhu met with Union Minister for Power RK Singh in New Delhi seeking his intervention in facilitating the transfer of the project. During the meeting, Sukhu highlighted the state’s entitlement to a 12 percent water royalty and discussed the share of Himachal Pradesh in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB).

“It is due to the construction of BBMB projects that many townships in Himachal have faced complete rehabilitation and some oustees have not been compensated even after 50 years of being uprooted,” he said.

He urged the Union Minister to consider granting permission to the state government to levy a royalty on free power in all commissioned projects of the BBMB.

Sukhu also raised the issue of an increase in the royalty that the state receives from Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Ltd (SJVNL) projects. “The share of free power royalty received from SJVNL projects, which have completed a debt period of 12 years, may be raised from the current 12 percent to 30 percent,” he said.

The Shanan project, also known as the Uhl River hydroelectric project, is estimated to be worth Rs 1,600 crore and currently generates 110 MW of power. When it was constructed in 1932, it had an installed capacity of 48 MW, which was later increased by the Punjab Government in 1982.

On May 17, the Punjab Chief Minister received a letter from his counterpart Sukhu, in which Sukhu stated that the 99-year lease of the project and its assets, granted to Punjab by the former ruler of Mandi, Raja Joginder Singh Bahadur, would expire on March 2, 2024.

Over the years, this issue has become a significant political matter in the hill state and was raised and escalated in 1969 and again in 1977 during Shanta Kumar’s tenure as Chief Minister of Himachal Pradesh.

The Punjab government has argued that the 99-year-old lease mentioned by the Himachal government became “null and void” after Independence.

“The hydro project was given to Punjab as per Section 48, sub-clause 1 of the Punjab Reorganisation Act. The ending of the 99-year-old lease that HP Government is referring to, becomes null and void after Independence. The lease was made in 1935 before India became an independent nation. This is an already settled issue with the Government of India admitting on two occasions that the project belongs to Punjab,” Power Minister Harbhajan Singh ETO had said.

The post HP-Punjab tussle over power project intensifies first appeared on IPA Newspack.