This refers to the statement of chief minister Omar Abdullah in which he said, “We have rivers but our one hand is tied behind back. We can only harness the water potential through run-of-the-river schemes, and not by constructing dams due to the IWT clause’’ (GK, 12-06-2012). This is a lame excuse by CM. There is no need to go for  constructing more dams and new power projects in J&K because already the Hydral power plants running in J&K are more than enough  for state, but unfortunately major portion of electricity is sent outside Kashmir. Its all due to non seriousness of state government that they are not getting back the projects from the NHPC. Even the cabinet subcommittee constituted by the government has also recommended it. The Centre had transferred these hydral power  projects to NHPC as agents of the central government as per the agreement of Transfer of Property Act. That  agreement had already expired in 1987. Now what is the legal standing of NHPC. Land is ours, ownership is ours. It is the property of the state now and should remain the property of the state. All hydel power projects comes  under the category of renewable source of energy and  the president of ruling party National conference  Dr. Farooq Abdullah is the Union minister for New and Renewable Energy in  the Government of India, which is a plus point for the ruling government. If people are  blocking  the roads, go for protests due to  unavailability of electricity, they are right because when "Injustice becomes law, Rebellion becomes duty". Government should get back the NHPC power projects.

Aamir Hussain Bhat
Baramulla

Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Jun 2012 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Wed, 13 Jun 2012 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Thu, 14 Jun 2012 00:00:00 IST