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| Govt signs MOUs for 3500 MW of power, fails to restore 9 MW Sewa-III project | | |
EARLY TIMES REPORT
JAMMU, Jan 7: Three days back, the Jammu and Kashmir government had signed Memorandum of Understanding (MOUs) for generation of power which would add up over 3500 MW of power but it has so far failed to restore Sewa-III Hydro Project with capacity of 9 Mega Watts in the last over seven years due to reasons best known to the authorities concerned.
The 9 MW Sewa-III hydro power project over river Ravi in village Mashka of tehsil Basohli of district Kathua became non-functional, following the damage caused to over 300 metres portion of the canal due to heavy rains in the year 2013. Since then the Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC), which had constructed the project, has not been able to make repairs and make the project operational.
According to sources, in the last over seven years the JKPSDC has been making efforts to make the project operational while the then Deputy Chief Minister Dr. Nirmal Singh, who had the portfolio of Power Ministry had also emphasized upon making the project operational but all in vain.
In the month of January 2020, the JKSPDC had invited the tender which for the project. It reads, “Renovations and modernisation of 9 MW (3X3MW) SEWA Hydel Project Stage - III inclusive of Design, Engineering, Reverse Engineering, supply, erection, Testing & Commissioning of various equipments & material, including civil works and other allied works”, with estimated cost of Rs 1447 lacs but after issuing some corrigendum and notifications, making amendments in the clauses, finally in the month of August 2020, it cancelled the tender due to non fulfilment of conditions as there was only single bid/tender.
Though the Sewa-II project with generating capacity of 120 MWs is also on the River Ravi but is under control of NHPC and since 2010 it has been continuously generating power but the UT owned JKSPDC has been unable to even repair its damaged plant but in the past it had been demanding return of the power projects from the NHPC. “For the last over seven years, the Sewa-III project is totally closed and there is only one watchman which is looking after the JKSPDC property”, an official said.
The Board of Directors (BOD) of JKSPDC in the month of August 2020 had consented for an ambitious working plan for the year 2020-21 with a total outlay of Rs 1276.69 Crores out of which Rs 21.53 crores were kept for renovation of Sewa-III but only three months of the financial year have left and there are no signs of any restoration of the project.
“From the condition of Sewa-III project, it can be easily concluded that if JKSPDC will not able to plug the gaps and reorient itself to meet up the challenges in the power generation sector, then it will not be able to harness the power potential alike NHPC”, an official said.
The concerned General Manager Anil Sharma said that the Civil-works in the restoration process have been completed but the electrical works were still pending. “Once the electrical works will be completed only then the project will be restored”, Sharma said. |
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