A meeting was held on Tuesday regarding the proposed multipurpose Jamrani Dam Project which has been awaiting construction since 1975. Chief secretary Subhash Kumar met chairman (central water authority) Rakesh Kumar and officials of Uttar Pradesh Government to fix a time frame for the project. Within three days, the Uttarakhand Irrigation Department will resolve the objections of the central water authority and by June 7, a new DPR for the project will be prepared. In a month’s time, the forest clearance for the first phase will be obtained and the clearance for the second phase will be obtained by July.
It was decided that Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh will jointly build the dam and will decide how the expense and water will be shared between the two States. If there is any dispute, the central water authority will intervene. It was decided that Uttarakhand and UP Governments will request the Central Government to declare the dam as a national project and bear 90 per cent of the cost. The remaining 10 per cent cost will be shared by the two States. A new agreement will be signed between Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh on how the expense and benefits of the dam will be shared. The CS Kumar said he would be reviewing the progress of the project every month in order to complete the project in the given time frame. PCCF Dr RBS Rawat, Principal Secretary (Industry) Rakesh Sharma, Principal Secretary (Forest) S Ramaswamy, Secretary (Irrigation) Kunal Sharma and officials of UP Irrigation department were also present.
State power woes likely to worsen
The power situation in the State is likely to worsen further in the coming days as the Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited has procured electricity worth crores of rupees on Tuesday.
Department officials said that the demand of electricity has increased manifold for the last one week and it has turned extremely difficult for the department to meet with the growing demand of electricity. State Power Department is buying power from the open market to bridge the widening demand-supply gap that has severely affected normal life in the hill State in the midst of a scorching summer. “We have purchased seven million units of power from the open market which will give considerable relief to our State,” said one of the department sources from Uttarakhand Power Corporation limited.
He further told that the cost of power purchased was Rstwo crore and one lakh. It is also equally important to mention here is that the State power department had procured eight million units of electricity from private electricity generator worth Rstwo crore and 46 lakh on Monday.
Department officials lamented that the non functioning of certain hydro power projects is a major concern for the department as the power generation has reduced to 14-15 million units whereas the demand of electricity hovers around 33-36 million units.
Unable to cope up with the increasing demand of electricity in the state, the state power department is strictly implementing load shedding from one to four hours to meet with the growing demand of electricity. One of the department sources who wished anonymity told The Pioneer that the demand of electricity has increased manifold with the rise in the temperature and department is procuring electricity in order to meet with the growing demand of electricity in the State.