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| Prof Gupta assails NC, other political parties | | | Early Times Report
JAMMU, Jan 31: The former Union Minister, Prof. Chaman Lal Gupta has assailed the opposition of NC and some other political activists to the measures being taken for execution of certain major hydel power projects through NHPC and other central agencies, and observed that such a dubious thinking had come to be derogatory in the progress J&K State which is suffering on many accounts but for shortage of power despite having vast hydel resources.
According to press statement issued here, Prof. Gupta said that State is having over twenty thousand Mega watts of hydel power potential but the J&K Government on its own could not harness even one thousand Mega Watts during the lapse of over seven decades. This was retarding not only the progress and the prosperity of the State but also proving a great burden on the exchequer as to meet the local requirements of the energy, the State has to purchase from outside for which at least eight percent of the total budget is drained but for failure of the State Government to exploit its own resources.
During the past one decade alone the State has spent about Rupees fifty thousand crores to buy electricity and if the local resources had been tapped not only this amount could be saved but also utilized to execute at least five big hydel power projects to achieve self sufficiency, he added and alleged the lack of will and narrow parochial approach is the biggest hurdle.
He pointed out that out of big twenty thousand hydel potential, the J&K on its own has exploited on just about seven hundered Mega Watts and the NHPC over fifteen hundred Mega Watts, out of which the State is not only getting 12 percent free of cost energy and large sums of royalty every year as per the agreement but it was strange that with separatist outlook, attempts are being made to create hurdles in the execution of new projects.
He also pointed out that in the adjoining Himachal Pradesh there was almost equal to J&K, the hydel, power potential of twenty thousand Mega Watts and it has exploited more than ten thousand Megawatts of energy though NHPC and on its resources. And thus, the Himachal Pradesh has not only gained self sufficiency but also having earnings by selling energy to add to its financial resources.
He questioned that why the leaders of NC and its allies could not achieve what they are desiring now as they ruled most of the time during all these years. He said J&K is an integral part of India but it was unfortunate that certain elements infected by the virus of separatism are proving a big hurdle in the progress and prosperity of this State. |
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