Kishanganga hydropower project was initiated in 2000, work started in 2007, now that 2015 is coming to a close, and the project remains incomplete. Though the Deputy Chief Minister has issued instructions that the project should be completed by December 2016, which means one more year of extension, yet nobody can say with any amount of certainty whether the new completion date will be adhered to or not. In all probability, we do not expect it to begin producing power in another couple of years.
Kishanganga river flows through Pakistan occupied Kashmir called Neelam Valley by PoK people. The project site is located 5 kilometers north of Bandipora in Kashmir and will have an installed capacity of 330 MW. When the project was initiated in 2000, Pakistan raised a number of objections invoking the Indus Water Treaty. We had to refute their objections. Pakistan knocked at the door of The Hague Permanent court of Arbitration, which ordered suspension of work on the project till inquiry was conducted and decision made. It was only in February 2013 that the International Court allowed India to proceed with the construction of the project. In that sense it is only two years that work on the project has been going in.
This is by way of background of the Kishanganga Hydroelectric Power project about which recently a scam has been unearthed. The scam pertains to the rehabilitation of the families affected by floating the project. According to reports available with us, the Cabinet Sub-Committee, while reviewing the matter in its recent meeting chaired by the Deputy Chief Minister, came to know that out of a total of 607 families shown as displaced on the paper by the then Deputy Commissioner Hamidullah Khan and the Revenue functionaries, actually only 185 were dislocated. In the context of the Kishanganga project, Rs. 254 crore was shown as the amount expended on the rehabilitation of displaced families. In fact only 185 displaced families were rehabilitated, and a sum of Rs. 147 crores was genuinely spent on their rehabilitation. In this way, a sum of Rs.107 crore was shown in exaggeration of actual proposed expenditure.
Grapevine has it that the exaggerated amount as well as the number of affected families was the joint handiwork of the then Deputy Commissioner of Bandipur and the Revenue functionaries. Additionally, the then local MLA, Hamidullah Khan, is also reported an accomplice in the scam. According to unconfirmed sources, he is said to have pocketed his share of 10.6 lakh rupees in this or some other transaction.
Deputy Chief Minister, who is also in charge of Power, has demanded action against the then Deputy Commissioner and the Revenue officials for misleading the NHPC, the executing agency for the Kishanganga project.
Our State is power hungry. It is an irony that despite large water resources, our State is not able to produce power sufficient enough to meet our requirements. It was strongly recommended by various advisory bodies that the State should encourage small hydroelectric power stations to meet local needs and thus relieve pressure on main hydroelectric power units in the State. It was in that context that the Kishanganga Power Project had been contemplated and taken up for execution. This project has much technical facets to it as the water of Kishanganga diverted for generating electric power is to be carried through tunnels and disgorged in Wular Lake. Situated five miles north of Bandipore, this 330 MW power generating unit will bring power to a large number of villages in Bandipore-Gurez sector. Its importance has to be understood from the fact that Prime Minister Narendra Modi enquired about its progress twice during his video conferencing with the Chief Secretary and desired its early completion. After this revelation is known, the Government should very seriously pursue inquiry and action into the scam and ensure that the completion of the project takes place by December 2016.
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