Light for homes and industries gains new meaning in J&K, Ladakh
J K News Today
Jammu
J&K and Ladakh are rushing at a high speed toward complete self-reliance in power sector with the old and new power projects beaming a new promise to this effect.
Ever since August 5 , one of the high priority areas of the UT administrations in J&K, and Ladakh is on reviving the stalled power projects and starting new projects . The power generation will help the government to light all the homes all across the two union territories, which in itself means bringing new light of hope for the people who had been living virtually in dark times because of the lack of focus in this particular area.
The political governments in the past had been making a lot of hue and cry that the Indus Water Treaty has proven detrimental to the power generation , because the waters of the three major rivers, Indus, Chenab, and Jhelum could not be harnessed due to the Treaty. It was made an issue against Delhi and political parties always raised the pitch while seeking compensation for the waters wasted – for the rivers were flowing to Pakistan .
The politicians of different stripes would also raise voices against National Hydro-electric Projects Corporation for taming the water of the rivers and generating power with only 12 per cent of it coming to J&K as part of the royalty . They were creating a perception as the J&K waters were being usurped by the NHPC , without answering a question why didn’t the state governments utilize the water and generate electricity or create irrigation network for the benefit of the people .
In short, they tried to misrepresent the facts and create doubts in the mind of the people , but at the same time , when Prime Minister Narendra Modi said in 2016 that he would not allow the waters to go waste and use all the water in J&K and Punjab rivers that fall under the IWT , Kashmiri politicians started a campaign against it . There are so many contradictions and divided loyalties that only stalled the start of the projects and, in reality stalled the progress of J&K as well.
Had J&K been power reliant, industries would have come up and these could have generated prosperity for the people as also employment for the youth in J&K. That did not happen.
Now, it is the same water, the projects have started and the hope for generation of power and other benefits would start reaching the people.
The work on 624 Kiru power project in Kishtwar started on June 17, and a lot of progress has been made in the multi-purpose 280 MW Ujh project. Many projects have started dotting Ladakh as well, 45 MW Nimmo Bazgo and 44 MW Chutuk project in Kargil .
There are many more such projects . The completion of these projects will take time, but a promise has taken off with the work on the ground.
