KL Report
SRINAGAR
Jammu and Kashmir government has collected a whopping 2062.51 crore as a water usage charged from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation(NHPC) since water Resources Regulation and Management act was put in place.
According to documents available with KNS, an amount of Rs 543.32 crore during 2011-12,Rs 751.52 crore during 2012-13,and Rs.572.77 crore during 2013-14 and Rs.194 crore has been received in 2014-15 (totaling Rs.2062.51) as water usage charged from the National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC).
The document further reads that as per the J&K Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, 2010 every company running the Hydro electric project in the Jammu and Kashmir state has to deposit water usage charges with the government. “The NHPC and the power development corporation are the two main hydroelectric power generating companies in the Jammu and Kashmir and it is mandatory for them to deposit the water usage as per the act,” the document reveals.
It adds that and amount of Rs.701.53 crores has been deposited by the PHE/I&FC Department on account of the water usage charges deposited by the NHPC in the financial year 2011-12.
“Now in the current financial year 2012-13 an amount of Rs.430.71 crore deposited by the NHPC has been transferred by the PHE/I&FC Department to the account operated by the Administrative secretary, Finance Department in pursuance of the insertion of section 185-a constitution of fund for utilization of water usage charges in the Jammu and Kashmir Resources (Regulation and Management) Act, 2010,”the document reads.
Meanwhile, sources said that the NHPC and state owned companies are earning more than Rs, 7,140 crore annually from different hydroelectric projects operated by them in Jammu and Kashmir. “At present the volume of water present in the state was roughly about one lakh million acre feet out of which 33930 million cubic of water is used by the companies for power generation,” sources said.
