Senior officials of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Delhi are to meet here next week over the construction of a multi-billion rupee hydro-power dam project in Himachal Pradesh that would supply water to Delhi.
Himachal chief secretary Sudripta Roy said that he would meet his Uttarakhand and Delhi counterparts on July 5 to speed up construction of the project, which has hit roadblocks repeatedly, and also discuss issues leading to the delay.
The `3,600 crore project, to be constructed on a tributary of the Yamuna river in Sirmaur district, is meant to supply 275 million gallons per day to Delhi and also generate 40 MW of electricity for Himachal.
Official sources said the chief secretaries would also look into the viability of the project as the ministry of environment and forests has estimated environmental and rehabilitation cost of the project at `1,500 crore.
They said that the huge environmental and rehabilitation cost besides the project construction cost has put a question mark on viability of the project that is mainly aimed to quench the thirst of the people of Delhi.
Water from the Renuka dam will be released into the Yamuna river, from where it will flow to Haryana’s Hathinikund barrage and finally reach Delhi.
The Delhi government has already given `214.83 crore and Haryana `25 crore to the Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited (HPPCL), a public sector undertaking executing the project, to start the construction work. The project has hit a number of environmental roadblocks.
B.K. Kaushal, the project general manager, said: “Land acquisition process is on, but we have not awarded compensations of `200 crore due to the stay by the Green Tribunal.” He said a fresh forest clearance proposal with minimum forest land diversion has been submitted with the ministry. “We are awaiting its clearance.”