New Delhi, Sept. 15 -- Six northern states on Tuesday signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for the implementation of the long-pending 422-MW Kishau Multipurpose Project in Himachal Pradesh, with Union Home Minister Amit Shah describing the agreement as a "historic" step towards resolving water-related disputes.
The agreement was signed by Union Jal Shakti Minister C R Patil and the chief ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Rajasthan -- Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu, Nayab Singh Saini, Pushkar Singh Dhami, Yogi Adityanath, Rekha Gupta and Bhajanlal Sharma -- in the presence of Shah.
The project, estimated to cost Rs 15,624 crore, envisages a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam on the Tons River along the Uttarakhand-Himachal Pradesh border. It will have a storage capacity of 1,562 million cubic metres, irrigate around 97,000 hectares and generate 1,476 million units of clean hydropower.
Shah said the project would benefit all six states in different ways, with Delhi emerging as the biggest beneficiary. He said the Centre and the six Yamuna basin states were committed to completing the project at the earliest.
The agreement follows an understanding reached by the states in June to move ahead with the MoU, paving the way for the project to be placed before the Union Cabinet. The project had remained stalled for more than eight years due to differences over financial responsibilities.
Shah said the Centre would bear approximately 90 per cent of the project's financial burden, while the remaining 10 per cent would be borne by the participating states in accordance with the 1994 agreement.
He said the project was the 10th water dispute to be resolved since Narendra Modi became prime minister. He credited the Ministry of Jal Shakti and the participating states for resolving differences after taking into account technical and economic considerations and safeguarding the interests of all stakeholders.
Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhu said his government had consistently worked to protect the state's interests in the project and played a key role in breaking the prolonged deadlock over the sharing of the financial burden.
He said a high-level meeting chaired by Shah on June 16 had resulted in an in-principle decision that the estimated Rs 2,000-crore cost of the power component on Himachal Pradesh's side would be borne by Delhi, Rajasthan and Haryana, which are beneficiaries of the project's water component.
Sukhu said the previous BJP government had agreed to contribute Rs 800 crore towards the state's share, but his government rejected the proposal in view of Himachal Pradesh's limited resources.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.