The Baglihar contract appears to have been drafted in haste as is evident from the heavy cost it incurs upon the state. This is the agreement reached between the National Hydro-electric Power Corporation (NHPC) and J&K State  Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC), for operating the only state owned power project.  If the report that for just 14% work since September, NHPC is seeking payment for 100% Job from April, is to be believed it is a brazen attempt at fleecing the state government by NHPC - the GoI promoted company. How and why the JKSPDC has worked out the agreement becomes inexplicable. It appears that there are elements in JKSPDC who are more than friendly to NHPC and are taking due care of latter’s interests while cutting out deals. The state has already advanced Rs25 crores to NHPC for maintenance of Baglihar power project from September 3rd, 2009 when it actually took up part of the maintenance work of the project. Preferring “highly inflated” claim of Rs 84 crore for operation and maintenance of Baglihar project asking the state government to release the balance of Rs 59 crore for the current fiscal, is seen here as part of its exploitative practices in the state. The state government’s stand that `NHPC has charged the state from April 2009 although it had taken up the task of only the electro-mechanical part of the facility, that too, from September 3, 2009 as the contract with NHPC would started from September 1, 2009 and not from April 1, 2009’, is to be seen seriously. The state government needs to tackle the domineering and highly exploitative corporation with an iron hand. It would do better to take cue from Narender Modi of Gujarat, who changed the very complexion of the game called exploitation of state resources by GoI promoted corporations and establishments in the state of Gujarat. A heavy dose of taxes by the Gujarat Government on Union Government owned Corporations like ONGC and MMTC did meet some resistance but then the state was within its rights to impose such taxes and levies. In fact such kind of taxes helped Gujarat to overcome difficulties and reduce budget deficit to around Rs 100 Crores. NHPC is here exploiting state’s water resources for a paltry 12% of hydro-power produced and is selling the energy produced from the state’s resources to the state at a premium of Rs8 to Rs 12 a unit, the cost of production for which remains at Re 0.50 to Re 1.00 per unit. By a simple legislation aimed at seeking compensation for disturbing the ecology, and raising the royalty substantially on power produced, the state could mitigate its financial problems to some extent. For deploying a dozen of its employees at the site, most of whom belong to non-engineering cadre, the Corporation is demanding elephantine amounts from the state; it’s unheard of. It also needs to be seen whether the NHPC is imparting the required, and agreed upon, training to the local engineers or not. When the NHPC is maintaining less than 14 per cent of the project, it should be given money for the same. It’s a matter of plain logic and simple mathematics. State government would do better to explore the possibility of reviewing the agreement JKSPDC has struck with NHPC. The GoI undertaking has gone berserk and has been exploiting the state’s resources unsparingly. That should stop at all costs. We must follow the example of Gujarat in imposing heavy taxes on exploiters of state’s natural resources. Nobody would declare the state government for such an act as anti-national. The state is already paying a heavy price for the Indus Water Treaty, for which its demand on compensation has gone unheard so far. It is time to save the situation from worsening, by putting a stop to this cruel exploitation, as the matter can spill into the streets.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 Dec 2009 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 27 Dec 2009 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 28 Dec 2009 00:00:00 IST