Punjab ratifies Shahpur Kandi Dam Project

Chandigarh, September 21: The state cabinet led by Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh on Thursday ratified the historic agreement signed on September 8 this year between Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir for an immediate resumption of work on the Shahpur Kandi Dam Project.

 

Notably, the Shahpur Kandi project was signed by Karan Avtar Singh Chief Secretary Punjab and BVR Subrahmanyam in the presence of Jammu and Kashmir Governor Satya Pal Malik in Raj Bhawan Srinagar on September 8 this year. The project, aimed to be completed in three years, would generate 206 MW of additional Hydro Power, leading to irrigation and power benefits worth Rs.852.73 crore annually.

The Shahpur Kandi project will enable the up-stream Ranjit Sagar Dam project power station to act as a peaking station, besides having its own generation capacity of 206 MW and irrigation benefit of 37,173-hectare CCA to Punjab and Jammu and Kashmir states. It will also enable the country to fully utilize the Ravi water as per the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan.

The Shahpur Kandi Dam, an inter-state project, was approved by the Government of India as a ‘National Project’ in February 2008 at a cost of Rs. 2285.81 crore, including the irrigation component of Rs. 653.97 crore. Work on the main dam and head regulators had commenced in March 2013.

The construction was going on in full swing when suddenly, on August 30, 2016, the Jammu and Kashmir authorities intervened and stopped the work in the valley, citing the enactment of Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004, even though the Punjab Government had categorically stated that PTAA 2004 was not applicable to riparian states like Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

With the intervention of the Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office, an agreement was signed between irrigation secretaries of both the states on March 3, 2017, subject to approval by the respective Government. It was unanimously agreed that the work on the Shahpur Kandi Dam project would resume as soon as the respective state governments formally approved the decision.