J&K CM Omar Abdullah (File photo)
SRINAGAR: The J&K govt Friday said it has accelerated the pace of construction of ongoing hydel power projects across the union territory after the Centre placed Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in abeyance.The total installed hydropower capacity in J&K is expected to reach around 11000 MW by 2035 from the current 3,540 MW, it said.“In the backdrop of the Indus Water Treaty being kept in abeyance, the pace of construction of ongoing projects has accelerated. Additionally, the process of identifying potential storage projects has also been expedited to maximise the utilisation of the remaining hydropower potential,” CM Omar Abdullah, who also holds the power portfolio, said in a written reply in the Assembly.
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India last year placed the IWT in abeyance after the Pahalgam terror attack as part of a series of measures announced by PM Narendra Modi, including the suspension of the decades-old water-sharing pact.The treaty was signed between India and Pakistan in 1960 for sharing of Indus river system waters. According to the treaty, India got the full rights for utilization of waters of the three eastern rivers — Ravi, Beas and Satluj — while Pakistan got rights over the three western rivers, Indus, Chenab and Jhelum. The upper riparian region of the river system falls in India.The CM said J&K has an estimated hydropower potential of around 18,000 MW, of which 15,000 MW has been identified. “Of the identified potential, 3540.15 MW (24%) has been developed to date,” he said, adding that a comprehensive road map for the next decade has been drawn and is under implementation and the UT is on fast track to triple its installed hydropower capacity by 2035.Omar said the draft J&K Hydel Policy 2025 has been framed based on learnings from the past and outcome of the previous policies.He said the new policy is expected to give a push to development of projects on small rivers and streams by bringing in private players into the hydropower power sector in a big way. “This will in turn uplift the socio-economic status of the local population and create job opportunities during construction and operation of these projects. Besides, under the new policy, the project developer is required to supply free power, royalty to J&K upon completion of a specified time after start of commercial operations of the project,” the CM said.
