Post militancy, one of the major issues that crept into public discourse was the exploitation of the water resources initially by the restrictions imposed by the Indus Water Treaty and later by the NHPC, India’s hydro energy giant.
It somehow clicked with the Congress minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din that he came with a law in October 2010 that could make all water users to pay water usage charges to J&K government.
The law under which State Water Resources Regulatory Authority (SWRRA) would be set up to manage water resources and raise revenues is the first such piece of legislation in any of the Indian states. Power producers have to renew their licences and notices have already been issued to them. With a bit of criticism on the model it intends to implement, the move has been appreciated. Water supply could be stopped to producers if they do not adhere to the law. Dams will be inspected every year and for any discharge for flush silt has to be linked with elaborate alarm mechanism.
Notwithstanding the spirit and the requirement of such a law, the government has been cooking data to inflate the earnings of the NHPC and the revenues it could make if at all the producers start paying. Taj has informed the legislature that NHPC is making around Rs 7140 crore a year from its operations in J&K and the law would get the state around Rs 848 crore a year.
The fact is that NHPC has never earned that much of the money. In 2009-10 for instance NHPC’s net sale turnover reached Rs 4218.90 crore when it sold 16960 million units of energy making a net profit of Rs 2090.50 crore. Its three projects operating in J&K fetched it 7991 million units of energy which makes over 47 percent of the total energy it sold. Exaggerated figures create impossible expectations.
From an identified 14275 MW potential, J&K has harnessed only 2456 MW. Of this NHPC alone is generating 1680 MW through its four projects – Salal, Dul Hasti, Uri and just commissioned Sewa-II.
It is adding 320-MW to its installed capacity in the state within next one year when its three projects – Uri-II in Kashmir and Nimo-Bazgo and Chutak in Ladakh will go into generation. Besides, the state government has also given it two more projects. While the 330-MW Kishanganga will get delayed because of serious crisis with Pakistan and the 1020-MW Bursar will take a long time.
NHPC has set a cumulative target of 8334 million unit of energy from its four operational units in 2010-11 against which the generations have reached 5019 million units by August 2010.
The main critic to the law is that the water usage charges are expensive and would eventually be transferred by the producer to the energy end user. Besides, it could impact the new ventures that are in different stages of implementation.
