After several months, Punjab Chief Minister Prakash Singh Badal has replied to the letter of senior BJP leader of Himachal Pradesh and former PWD Minister Thakur Gulab Singh, on the pathetic condition of the Shanan Hydro-electric project.
In his letter, the reply of which reached the Himachal BJP leader after eight months, Badal has claimed that the Punjab government's State Electricity Board has not neglected the project.
Thakur Gulab Singh had written to Badal in July 2015 saying that the Punjab government under whose jurisdiction the Shanan project was gasping for breath, was not doing anything to restore the pristine glory of the project which once supplied power to several parts of north India.
The Shanan Hydro-electric Project was built in 1936 under a 99-year long lease executed between Col Batty, a British representative and Raja of Mandi, Joginder Sen in 1925.
In a rejoinder to Badal, Thakur Gulab Singh said that the project was not neglected was a “ blatant lie‘’. He said, much water has flown in river Uhl, the tributary of Beas over the past 8 months.
All the members of Parliament from Himachal Pradesh had met Prime Minister Narendra Modi requesting him to take over the project without further delay or else it would be go to rack and ruin.
In a letter to the Union Minister of State for Power, Piyush Goyal, Thakur Gulab Singh had expressed serious concern over the deliberate attempts by the PSEB to ruin the Shanan Project, one of the unique and globally known power project cum tourists resort, before the expiry of the 99-year lease in 2024 would be rendered useless by the PSEB.
He was also apprised that for the last 6 years the greasing of the pulleys, ropes and maintenance of the trolley lines has been abandoned.
It was requested that this unique project should either be taken over by the Centre or handed over to Himachal Pradesh, 8-9 years before the expiry of the lease.
A central team was sent to Jogindernagar which found the allegations correct and submitted its report to the Union Minister.
It may be recalled that the deplorable state of the Shanan Project had been brought to the notice by The Pioneer. A team of The Pioneer studied the deplorable state of the project for two days and a series of reports were published.
Efforts of the media reports yielded positive results as Punjab government woke up under the pressure of public, media and the Union government. Funds were provided for the repairs and renovation of the project on a war-footing.
A spokesperson of the PSEB had told mediapersons recently that ample funds had been sanctioned to revive the abandoned trolley service. Work had been taken up to restore the 4-stage trolley service from Jogindernagar to Zero Point at Barot on a war-footing.
In his reply sent to the BJP leader Thakur Gulab Singh of his letter written 8 months ago, Punjab Chief Minister has stated that during the current financial year, a sum of Rs21.72 crore has been provided for the repairs and renovation of the project. As many as 219 officials and employees were working in the project. He has expressed his inability to restore the trolley service to the tourists for security reasons.
Thakur Gulab Singh has lamented that the biggest charm for the tourists from home and abroad was the ride on the Trolley negotiating green valleys going up to the height of 8000 ft in two stages and again rolling down to the Zero Point on the bank of Uhl in two stages.
Thakur said if the BJP comes to power in the state, it would make earnest efforts to develop the sprawling Shanan Complex at par with the best tourist destinations of the world.