Congress led State Government is likely to oppose the affidavit of Centre, which deducted the State’s claim of Rs. 4249 crore to around Rs. 1500 crore in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) run projects.
The Central Government had on Tuesday informed the Supreme Court by an affidavit that Punjab and Haryana would have to pay a compensation of Rs. 1497.39 crore to Himachal Pradesh for short supply of electricity from Bhakra and Beas projects since 1966.
The Counsel for centre even told the Supreme Court both Punjab and Haryana could compensate Himachal Pradesh by allotting additional energy over a period of 30 years if they had any difficulty in making cash payment.
Chief secretary Sudripto Roy said that state had sought two weeks time to reply to the affidavit in the Supreme Court. “Compensation calculated by the central government is not acceptable to the state and we are seeking detailed legal opinion from our lawyers,” said Roy. The Chief secretary also said that Himachal Pradesh will further oppose clause of allotting the electricity to the state for a period of 30 years. “Thirty years is a long time, the period should be short, if this formula is to be worked out for payment of compensation” added Roy.
According to centre’s affidavit, the energy arrears for which Himachal Pradesh is entitled were computed for all the BBMB projects separately for each financial year since November 1, 1966 to October 31, 2011 and both Punjab and Haryana would share the burden in the ratio of 58:42. The compensation calculated by the centre includes a simple interest of six percent. Himachal Pradesh government had filed a suit in the Supreme Court in 1996, seeking due compensation of Rs. 4,249 crore and on September 27, 2011, apex court had asked centre to calculate the compensation amount.