Agreement on Shahpur Kandi dam project

26/09/2018

After a long wait of nearly four decades, the Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab Governments, on the intervention of Prime Minister's Office (PMO), today finally inked an agreement on implementation of Shahpur Kandi dam project, which will turn out to be a boon for Kandi belts of Kathua and Samba districts and parts of Jammu district and give 41 MW of power to J&K in addition to 20 per cent of Thein dam. The project will irrigate 80,000 acres of land in Kandi areas of Kathua, Samba and Jammu districts and 95,000 acres of land in Punjab. It will generate 270 MW of power for the neighboring State. The project will be completed in about three years and water will start flowing to two and half districts of Jammu by the end of 2020. The project will be monitored by the officials of Central Water Commission (CWC), J&K and Punjab Governments. Union Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office (PMO), Dr. Jitendra Singh, who had taken the initiative for agreement on Shahpur Kandi project and was vigorously pursuing the project during last three years. For the last four decades, the previous Governments in J&K didn't pursue the project for variety of reasons, known to them. On the intervention of PMO, Nipender Mishra, Principal Secretary to Prime Minister Narendra Modi brought the representatives of J&K and Punjab Governments and Central Water Commission on one table.
The agreement was signed between J&K Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam and his Punjab counterpart Karan Avtar Singh in the presence of Governor Satya Pal Malik and Minister for Water Resources, Punjab Government, Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria. The previous Governments had insisted on securing compensation from Punjab Government running into hundreds of crores, which the neighbouring State had refused. This led to deadlock between the two States, leading into delay in the agreement till the Prime Minister's Office intervened and made all three parties to sit together and reach the agreement. The ambitious ShahpurKandi Dam project over river Ravi is a major irrigation project, which will benefit both Jammu & Kashmir and Punjab. J&K is entitled to 0.69 MAF of water from river Ravi of which only 0.215 MAF is being utilized by the State. While the construction of 79.5 kilometers Ravi canal and 493 kilometers of distribution network in J&K has been completed, the lack of progress on Shahpur Kandi dam project and some disputes relating to the Thein dam, had led to non-utilization of the waters of river Ravi to which J&K was entitled to. With the signing of today's noteworthy agreement, the project will immensely benefit the districts of Kathua and Samba besides catering to some parts of Jammu district. It will irrigate 32,000 hectares of agricultural land (80,000 acres) in Kandi areas, upstream and downstream along the Jammu-Pathankot National Highway in Samba and Kathua districts. This will ensure the prosperity of the farmers of these areas and will lead to overall development of the region. As per the agreement, the Government of Jammu and Kashmir will have the right of first refusal in respect of its entitled share of 20 per cent power from Shahpur Kandi Dam at the SERC rates.

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