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JAMMU & Kashmir will be the first Indian state to levy usage of water for generating electricity.
A Bill, which the legislature passed on Saturday, will set up State Water Resources Regulatory Authority (SWRRA) to manage water resources and raise revenue against its usage. Though the law would bring every water user under its purview, the immediate idea is to make NHPC, the national hydro power utility, pay for the water it uses to generate power. "Not just NHPC, we want everyone including the state-owned Power Development Corporation (JKPDC) to pay for the water it uses to generate energy," irrigation minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din told reporters after the passage of the J&K Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Bill, 2010.
The passage of the bill was inevitable in the wake of the thirteenth finance commission putting a rider over spending from grants it recommended in absence of such an authority. "Even if we fix a rate of only 25 paisa for every cubic meter of water that goes in power generation, it should fetch the state Rs 848 crores a year." NHPC, he said, earns Rs 7,140 crores a year from its J&K operations.
The alleged exploitation of state's vast water resources has remained a vital ingredient of Kashmir's political discourse. Reference to New Delhi bartering Kashmir's interests to Islamabad in the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 is a common refrain.
From an identified 14,275 megawatt potential, J&K has been able to harness only 2,456 megawatts. Of this, NHPC alone is generating 1,680 megawatts through its four projects—Salal, Dul Hasti, Uri and the just commissioned Sewa-II. It is adding 320-megawatt to its installed capacity in the city within the next one year when its three projects—one in Kashmir and two in Ladakh go into generation. NHPC is paying 12% of generations as royalty, but the state is seeking a hike but it has not been accepted in wake of presumptions that other states will also make similar demands. Taxing the generation may offer J&K one way of trying to compensate the losses it claims it has been suffering over the decades.
"If we are levying water usage charges on the farmers for irrigating their fields or to consumers in the cities what is the harm in making the power generating corporations to pay?" asks Taj, who said his ministry has been working on the 118-page Bill for a year and has consulted Central Water Commission. "Even the CWC is working on a similar law for consideration of the cabinet," he added.
Insiders said there were many red faces in the government over the issue because no state in India is taxing the usage of water that goes to generate energy. "It definitely will trigger a controversy but may end up helping the state in strengthening its argument for more royalty," an insider said. NHPC could be hit by the new law as it has almost half of its generation coming from J&K.
Taj, however, said the law is not all about making money. The Authority is mandated to a lot of activities for protecting the water resources and improving them besides monitoring the safety of the dams. "It is not regulation alone. The Authority that will come up by the end of the year will ensure judicious, equitable and sustainable management as well," he asserted. Most of the dams that the NHPC's projects have in the state have an inbuilt automatic mechanism of flushing part of the storage to manage silt load. "But there are no alarm systems installed," he said. He referred to the dam of NHPC Uri-I that releases 10% of the water storage to flush silt automatically.
FAO drops mention of
J&K, Arunachal as
separate countries
NEW DELHI: UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has dropped references to Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as "independent entities" in its 2010 report and initiated a review of designating countries and territories. "In matters of this nature, FAO, as a specialised agency of the UN system, follows the principles and practice of the UN, specifically its Cartographic Section. The territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are documented by the UN as disputed ones," Gavin Wall, FAO representative in India said. "Nevertheless, references to these territories have been promptly re-moved from annexure five to the publication- Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Dairy Sector," he said. —PTI
A Bill, which the legislature passed on Saturday, will set up State Water Resources Regulatory Authority (SWRRA) to manage water resources and raise revenue against its usage. Though the law would bring every water user under its purview, the immediate idea is to make NHPC, the national hydro power utility, pay for the water it uses to generate power. "Not just NHPC, we want everyone including the state-owned Power Development Corporation (JKPDC) to pay for the water it uses to generate energy," irrigation minister Taj Mohi-ud-Din told reporters after the passage of the J&K Water Resources (Regulation and Management) Bill, 2010.
The passage of the bill was inevitable in the wake of the thirteenth finance commission putting a rider over spending from grants it recommended in absence of such an authority. "Even if we fix a rate of only 25 paisa for every cubic meter of water that goes in power generation, it should fetch the state Rs 848 crores a year." NHPC, he said, earns Rs 7,140 crores a year from its J&K operations.
The alleged exploitation of state's vast water resources has remained a vital ingredient of Kashmir's political discourse. Reference to New Delhi bartering Kashmir's interests to Islamabad in the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 is a common refrain.
From an identified 14,275 megawatt potential, J&K has been able to harness only 2,456 megawatts. Of this, NHPC alone is generating 1,680 megawatts through its four projects—Salal, Dul Hasti, Uri and the just commissioned Sewa-II. It is adding 320-megawatt to its installed capacity in the city within the next one year when its three projects—one in Kashmir and two in Ladakh go into generation. NHPC is paying 12% of generations as royalty, but the state is seeking a hike but it has not been accepted in wake of presumptions that other states will also make similar demands. Taxing the generation may offer J&K one way of trying to compensate the losses it claims it has been suffering over the decades.
"If we are levying water usage charges on the farmers for irrigating their fields or to consumers in the cities what is the harm in making the power generating corporations to pay?" asks Taj, who said his ministry has been working on the 118-page Bill for a year and has consulted Central Water Commission. "Even the CWC is working on a similar law for consideration of the cabinet," he added.
Insiders said there were many red faces in the government over the issue because no state in India is taxing the usage of water that goes to generate energy. "It definitely will trigger a controversy but may end up helping the state in strengthening its argument for more royalty," an insider said. NHPC could be hit by the new law as it has almost half of its generation coming from J&K.
Taj, however, said the law is not all about making money. The Authority is mandated to a lot of activities for protecting the water resources and improving them besides monitoring the safety of the dams. "It is not regulation alone. The Authority that will come up by the end of the year will ensure judicious, equitable and sustainable management as well," he asserted. Most of the dams that the NHPC's projects have in the state have an inbuilt automatic mechanism of flushing part of the storage to manage silt load. "But there are no alarm systems installed," he said. He referred to the dam of NHPC Uri-I that releases 10% of the water storage to flush silt automatically.
FAO drops mention of
J&K, Arunachal as
separate countries
NEW DELHI: UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has dropped references to Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as "independent entities" in its 2010 report and initiated a review of designating countries and territories. "In matters of this nature, FAO, as a specialised agency of the UN system, follows the principles and practice of the UN, specifically its Cartographic Section. The territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are documented by the UN as disputed ones," Gavin Wall, FAO representative in India said. "Nevertheless, references to these territories have been promptly re-moved from annexure five to the publication- Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Dairy Sector," he said. —PTI
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