Neeraj Rohmetra
JAMMU, Oct 23: Despite nod of the State Cabinet since the year 2010, the State Finance Ministry has been trying to scuttle the prestigious Ravi Canal Project, which has potential of ushering green revolution in parts of Jammu province.
These remarks have been made by none other than the Minister for PHE, Flood Control and Irrigation while talking to EXCELSIOR. “The Finance Ministry headed by Abdul Rahim Rather had raised certain queries about the project, to which my officials had replied around two months back. But, till date we haven’t heard anything back from the Finance Department”, said the Minister.
Giving vent to his feeling, Mr Taj further stated, “not only that my officials have sent as many as three reminders to the Finance Ministry on the issue, but the latter hasn’t reverted back till date. It seem as if there is little intention to give clearances this project despite the fact that finances for this Project shall be raised by my own Ministry”.
“If the issue isn’t resolve soon, I shall be compelled to take it again to the State Cabinet for an early decision. Besides, I have also brought the matter to the notice of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah”, he asserted.
Frustrated over the non-clearance of the project, Mr Taj had last month also announced the boycott of Cabinet meetings to pressurize the Government. The issue was resolved only after the intervention of the Chief Minister, who had assured early clearance of the Rs 275.15 crore project for construction of Balance Portion / Extension of the main Ravi Canal upstream of Ravi river from Basantpur right upto the inflow of Reservoir of Ranjit Sagar Dam.
The project assumes great significance inview of the fact that the Project will irrigate nearly 1.33 lakh acres of land in three district of Jammu province for which 82 kilometer canal and 500 kilometer tributaries were constructed 30 years back. Besides, another important aspect is that the project also has the potential to produce nearly 20 MW of power for the State.
Interestingly as far as the issue of funding this project is concerned, the PHE Minister said, “the Cabinet has in principle to provide us with 10% of the total funds obtained from NHPC, other entities after implementation of Water Usage Charges Bill in the State. The historical Act had been introduced in 2010 with the aim to buy back the power projects from NHPC. The State has earned Rs 1100 crore on water charges of which Rs 750 crore had been recived from NHPC and nearly 350 crore will be received within six month”.
“The money we have earned would be exclusively used to buy back the projects from NHPC,” he said, adding that State will generate 2500 MWs of power and add to the already existing power capacity”.
“As far as this prestigious project is concerned, the Finance Department should ensure early clearances for the same and not create unnecessary hurdle. The project is meant for benefit of the people of State and it should not be subject to whims and fancies of Punjab Government, he said and added that State had suffered loss to the tune of around Rs 9000 crore due to non-implementation of agreement with Punjab for drawing water for irrigation and power share from Ranjit Sagar Dam during past 30 years.
Official sources also corroborated that the Planning Department had also in principle given its concurrence for providing 10% of the total funds for the project before it as cleared by the Cabinet. “The Department had earmarked nearly Rs. 20 crore have for the purpose and the Cabinet has also agreed to allocate 10 percent of the water usage charges to at collected by the State”, sources emphasized.
Ironically, the State Cabinet in its decision (No. 41/2/2010 dated 15.2.2010) had granted approval to the project of construction of the Irrigation and Flood Control Department taking off at village Satwain upto Basantpur where existing Ravi Canal starts. The Cabinet had directed the Irrigation and Flood Control Department to prepare a Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the project and submit it for the approval after obtaining all necessary approvals and concurrence of Planning and Finance Department.
Two months back also, the Finance Department had raised several queries and even declared the project as wasteful expenditure in case Punjab didn’t allow drawing of water from Ranjit Sagar Dam. However, the PHE Minister says, “J&K isn’t drawing water from Punjab territory but from its own river and from its territory at village Satwain and Punjab has no locus standi in disallowing drawal of water form Ranjit Sagar Dam, whose 65 % territory belongs to our State and we have 0.69 MAF water share from the Dam, which has the guaranteed of Government of India”.
Earlier, the Cabinet had also formed a sub-committee comprising Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Minister for Rural Department, Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs and Minister for Public Health, Irrigation and Flood Control. Its job was to examine all relevant aspects of dispute with Punjab.
The Cabinet sub-committee in a strong letter (No. PW/Hyd/P&S/IWT/2009/702) dated 25.6.2010 to the Punjab Government declined to lease out 500 acres of land to the Punjab for construction of Shahpur Kandi Barrage from which J&K was to draw water as per 1979 agreement. The letter said that even the compensation for the land provided for Ranjit Sagar Dam was not given to the State under 1979 agreement.
The letter asked the Punjab Government to compensate the losses suffered by J&K for past 30 years due to non-implementation of the agreement by Punjab. It demanded power share for 40 percent from Ranjit Sagar Dam to compensate the previous power losses. The letter also threatened Punjab of legal re-course in case it fails to pay the compensation.
Repeated attempts to reach the Finance Minister, Abdul Rahim Rather didn’t yield any result.
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