Srinagar, Sep 30: After waiting nearly four decades, the government has now set March 2023 completion date for the Shahpur Kandi project.
According to a senior government official who spoke to Greater Kashmir, the Shahpur Kandi project—which has been delayed for 40 years is finally being finished at a cost of Rs 2793 crore.
The project would irrigate 32,173 hectares of land when it is finished, which is anticipated to be in March the following year.
The governments of J&K and Punjab have decided that there would be a monthly assessment of the project to ensure that it is finished within the allotted period.
Work on the multi-crore Shahpur Kandi Dam project is currently in full swing.
The proposed Shahpur Kandi Dam is situated downstream of the current Ranjit Sagar Dam on the River Ravi in Punjab’s Pathankot district.
Powerhouses would be built on Hydel Channel, which is downstream from Shahpurkandi Dam.
For this project, the water that the Ranjit Sagar Dam releases would be used to produce electricity.
The project would irrigate Punjab (5000 Ha), Jammu and Kashmir (32,173 Ha), and produce 206 MW of power.
The construction of the dam is as per the framework of the Indus Water Treaty regarding sharing of rivers between India and Pakistan.
Officials said that for J&K this dam has an irrigation potential of 53927 Ha and would help generate 470 MU of electricity at a low cost to J&K
CURRENT SITUATION
The construction on the main dam and barrage is well underway, and on the land that the project authority already owns, work on the remaining stretch of the Ravi canal began in April 2021.
“A total of 179 kanal 5 malras of the 191 kanal and 11 malras total necessary land has already been handed to or is in the ownership of the Punjab Project Authority (PPA). The remaining 12 kanal and 6 malras of land are currently being acquired and transferred by the Revenue Department of J&K,” an official document read. “The feeling and cutting of trees coming under the alignment where the construction activity for the balance portion of Ravi canal is to be carried out has been started by the Forest Department and 175 trees have been removed which are in the alignment of the canal.”
It states that Rs 23.04 crore is the tentative cost of compensation of land and structures, trees, and shifting of utilities including the construction of Noora Bridge which has been communicated to SKD, and Rs 5.75 crore has been received by CE, RTIC Jammu.