* Nod to lease out 567 Ha land for Rattle Project
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Nov 19: Following serious concern by several Ministers of both Congress and National Conference, the State Cabinet, which met under the chairmanship of Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah this afternoon, refused to give one time authorization to the Power Development Department for leasing out land to the Independent Power Producers at various locations in the State.
Sources told EXCELSIOR that when the proposal regarding one time authorization to the Power Development Department for leasing out land to the Independent Power Producers on the pattern of Industries and Commerce Department came up for discussion in the Cabinet, Minister for PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control, Taj Mohi-ud-Din pointed out that such a move would create numerous problems and lead to many controversies.
“The pros and cons of each case are required to be deliberated upon in detail before according approval for leasing out land to Independent Power Producers as such blanket powers cannot be given to the Power Development Department”, sources said quoting Taj Mohi-ud-Din’s view point placed before the Cabinet.
“As Jammu and Kashmir is a very sensitive State we have to see the things from law and order point of view also”, Mr Taj further said while opposing the proposal of the Power Development Department.
The PHE, Irrigation and Flood Control Minister was supported by Minister for Law, Ali Mohammad Sagar and Minister for Finance, Abdul Rahim Rather, who too stressed that case by case deliberations should be held in the Cabinet before according approval to lease out land to the Independent Power Producers, sources said, adding “these Ministers said that there are lot of things which the Cabinet has to see in entirety while considering proposals vis-à-vis leasing out land to Independent Power Producers”.
Keeping in view the concern expressed by several Ministers, the Cabinet declined to grant one time authorization to the Power Development Department for leasing out land to Independent Power Producers.
However, the Cabinet gave nod to Power Development Department to lease out 567.22 hectares of land comprising 138.93 hectares of forest land, 281.09 hectares of State land, 55 hectares of private land and 92.20 hectares of river bed area falling in village Drabshalla of Kishtwar to M/s GVK Development Projects Limited on lease basis under the provisions of Land Grants Act, 1960 for development of 850 Mega Watts Rattle Hydroelectric Project for a period of 35 years from the date of commercial operation.
“Before according approval in respect of Rattle Power Project, the Cabinet discussed all the merits and demerits of the case in detail”, sources said.
In Jammu and Kashmir, several new projects are coming up in Independent Power Producers (IPP) mode and major ones of which are Rattle, Ans-I, Bichilari and Kanzil Wangath. In addition there are 22 other minor projects coming up in this mode and the total capacity of power generation by these 26 projects is as high as 1168 Mega Watts.
In respect of all these 26 projects, the Power Development Department will have to place case-by-case proposals before the State Cabinet for getting approval to lease out land to the Independent Power Producers.
The Cabinet also accorded sanction to proposal regarding relaxation in norms enabling Ladakh Renewable Energy Development Agency (LREDA) to execute 3 Mega Watt project. It also gave nod to revision of Master Plan for Pahalgam as directed by the State High Court in order to remove irregularities.
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