The centre government Friday ruled out transfer of hydro-power projects operated by the National Hydro-power Corporation to Jammu and Kashmir and also denied to increase the power share from these projects.“States put forward lot of demands to the centre, but demands cannot be translated into decisions,” Union minister for Power, Coal and Renewable energy, Piyush Goyal replied to a question about the return of two power projects as promised by the PDP-BJP coalition in ‘Agenda of Alliance’.“These power projects are held by public listed companies and the power share of 12 per cent is same in the country for all the states and is given across the country as per norms of the private companies,” Goyal said when asked about increase in power from 12 to 25 to the state.The union minister was addressing a video press conference from New Delhi which was played live in different studios in eight states. In Srinagar, the conference was arranged in NIC centre at DC office.
PDP-BJP coalition in the Agenda of Alliance has promised that the State Government will work with the Union Government to explore modalities for transfer of Dulhasti and Uri hydro power projects to J&K as suggested by the Rangarajan Committee Report and the Round Table reports.The agenda also promise that the government will secure a share in the profits of NHPC emanating from J&K waters to the state government, and revise all royalty agreements.Goyal said that no state can be given a “special category” in profit share.“Share in profit is given to the stakeholders. There can be no separate profit share for separate states in the country. No state can have a special category in share of the profits from the hydropower projects,” he said.He said that Chenab Valley Corporation, a joint venture with the Jammu and Kashmir government, will start power projects in the state and Jammu and Kashmir will naturally be a share holder in the profits.To a question about improvement in power transmission infrastructure to curb losses in electricity, the minister said that transmission losses of 50 percent are a grave concern.
“Many factors are responsible for the transmission losses in the Jammu and Kashmir and these factors hamper minimizing the losses. The state government is working to minimise losses,” he said.On power deficit, the minister said that the centre was very serious to address the issue of power deficit in the state.He urged the people to cooperate in paying power bills and not expose those who resort to power thefts.“People in the state should cooperate in paying power bills, and somebody in the society should act as whistle blower to expose those people in the society, factory owners who resort to power thefts. Then together we can resolve the issue of power deficit,” Goyal said.On repair of transfers, the minister said that under the new Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, Rs 619 crore and under IPDS scheme Rs 446 crore have been sanctioned to the Jammu and Kashmir state. (KNS)