Dear
Sh. Virbhadra Singh ji,
Sir, I on behalf of my party and fellow citizens and those who have an affinity for the state am writing this letter to you. Right at the outset I demand that the government should immediately take over the 1500 MWNathpa Jhakri hydro electric project and run it itself. The purpose of forming NJPC which eventually led to the formation of Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) seems defeated . The purpose of the aforsaid project was to augment the state in its capacity to generate electricity and also to make it financially strong. However this has not happened.
Sir, the NJPC was initially started by the HP state electricity board in late 70s in order to harness the hydro potential of Satluj river. The entire initial work for this project was carried out by the employees and Engineers of HPSEB, i.e., investigation, execution etc. But due to lack of resources , in the state the then chief minister Sh Shanta Kumar signed an agreement with Govt of India in 1991 to execute this project in joint venture as Nathpa Jhakri Power Corporation (now SJVNL) .
In 1991 the staff of HPSEB who were working and executing this project was2870 including daily wagers and Engineers etc. The project got commissioned in September2003 and till date the project is generating energy which is shared in the ratio of 75:25 with 12 % royalty to the state of HP.
Sir as you know, the project is earning a profit of more than Rs 1000 crores per annum by supplying energy to different states . This could be made possible by the intensive and extensive efforts of the workforce of the people . However, quite ironically though when this project is running in full swing and earning huge profits the state of HP is marred with a flawed and faulty hydro power policy and in fact is a net buyer of energy.By Nov -December 2013 the state had to buy electricity worth Rs 1500 crores and it further swelled by March2014.
Since 2003 since the commissioning of NJPC, no new project has been executed by NJPC and even the Rampur project is behind schedule and even the cost has doubled in the recent years. Quite surprisingly , now the SJVNL is venturing in thermal(1350MW) in Bihar and Wind energy in Maharashtra and is also working on different projects in Uttrakhand, Arunachal, Bhutan, Nepal etc with the signboard and brand of SJVNL. Thus, ignoring the very right of the state of HP as in these projects the share of Himachal Pradesh is ZERO. . Though the income that they have is only from the NJPC which too is being lavishly spent .
Not just that now even the employment is being given to non Himachalis on preference if the recent interview is a pointer. These interviews were conducted in Patna and Delhi instead of Shimla thus debarring the state youth from appearing in. I’m told the management for good over 25 days in a month stays in Delhi and runs it through their remote control which can be seen from their TA and DA bills that are swelling day in and out. The money of the state is spent lavishly to meet the corporate tastes and recently more than Rs 40 lacs was spent to renovate the office of the CMD.
Sir it is in this background that I write to you that now the time has come to take over the project back from SJVNL in order to overcome the deficit of the state which is already burdened with a debt of more than Rs 30000 crores and the HPSEB which is under a debt of Rs 1500 crores . Since water being the first right of the state , Sir your government should diligently and vigorously pursue to take over this project from the Govt of India in order to meet the ongoing debt crisis and also to dedicate it to the interests of the state. Sir lastly let me also apprise you and which I believe is pertinent here to mention that the Govt of Jammu and Kashmir too in the past has taken back two HEP projects from Govt of India. On the same analogy the Govt. of HP should also pursue heir case to get their legitimate demand met with.
Yours
Tikender Singh Panwar
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