The State Government has sanctioned Rs 201 crore for giving arrears to sugarcane farmers of which the first installment of Rs 100 crore would be given immediately by SIIDCUl to which the Government would return the amount later.
To decongest traffic on Dehradun-Delhi route, especially at Datkali, the State Government has decided to build a separate tunnel shortly. State has decided to bid for 36 hydro power projects phase wise. These were disclosed by the Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna after conducting a review meeting of power, PWD and sugarcane department in secretariat on Friday.
In this ongoing financial year, the State Government has released Rs 1971 crore out of Rs 8,500 crore annual plan till June 2013, while it was mere Rs 630 crore out of Rs 8,200 crore annual plan in the June 2012. Reviewing the progress of the Power Department, he said special attention will be given to lakhwar Vyasi and Bowla-Nandprayag hydropower projects.
It has been noticed that state hydro power projects required up-gradation so we have decided to upgrade it shortly. With this up-gradation state would get 125 MW additional power. Bidding will soon be done for 36 small hydropower projects. He said formalities should be completed for non-controversial hydropower projects in the state. During review meeting of power department, the CM instructed them to complete the formalities of non disputed hydro power projects. He also instructed to bring all run of the river such projects, which required clearance from wild life board, in next meeting of state wild life boards.
The CM said the tariff of power in Uttarakhand were lower than those in Delhi, UP and Himachal Pradesh (HP). Domestic consumers get power @ Rs 2.94 per unit (PU) while Rs 5.02 PU in Delhi; Rs 4.06 PU in UP and Rs 3.91 PU in HP. Commercial consumer pays Rs 4.86 PU in Uttarakhand while Rs 8.53 PU in Delhi, Rs 6.5 PU in UP and Rs 5.73 PU in HP and Industry pays Rs 4.59 PU in the State while Rs 7.3 in Delhi, Rs 7.05 in UP and Rs 5.18 in HP. He also appealed to the media to “highlight this so that industry would come here”.
He said all formalities for the second phase of Vyasi Hydropower project had been completed at the State level and most probably Union Government will give their approval by August this year. Its construction will be completed by 2017. Work on the 300 MW Bowla-Nandprayag project will begin from June 2014. By March 2014, work on lakhwar project will start. By March 2015, work on the second phase of Maneri Bhali will be completed. By 2014-15, 2019 MW capacity will be increased. A MoU of 680 MW Kisau Dam project has been sent to Himachal Pradesh Government by the State.
34 MW Maneri Bhali second phase upgradation work will be completed by March 2015 and tentatively 2019 MW additional power generation capacity will be added by the financial year 2014-15. Meanwhile, the power department has managed to bring line loss upto 19 percent from 53 percent. We are planning to curtail line loss upto 15 percent then union government will convert Rs 600 crore loan into grant. He also appealed to the mass to take regular connection because you can help state by converting your illegal connection into legal.
Reviewing progress of PWD, he said work on proposed road projects should be accelerated. PWD officials said that this year, Rs 1,500 crore will be spent on constructing roads including the roads under PMGSY.
Work on the proposed Balliwala, Jogiwala and ISBT flyovers will begin in a month. A second tunnel will be built near Dat Kali to remove the bottleneck on Doon-Delhi route. Meanwhile we have suspended 15 engineers so far and lodged FIR against the two contractors because of their lackadaisical approach. Reviewing the Sugarcane and Sugar Development Department, he said an action plan should be developed for the up-gradation of sugar mills. He has instructed to provide high yield seeds among sugarcane farmers.
To make them financially independent we have empowered the sugarcane industry to sell their 80 percent molasses in open market and 20 per cent to the reserve for local distillery units.
Earlier, there was arrangement of 80 percent molasses for reserve and 20 per cent for open market. Present at the meeting were Cabinet Minister SS Negi, Chief Secretary Subhash Kumar, FRDC BP pandey, PS Rakesh Sharma and SS Sandhu.