SRINAGAR: The National Hydroelectric Power Corporation (NHPC) has once again ruled out handing over power projects in Jammu and Kashmir back to the state, saying that such a transfer had no legal basis.
The NHPC contends that agreements over the power projects have been executed under the Transfer of Property Act with the mandate of the central government, and as such there was no legal justification for the states demand for their return.
The Corporation says this in reply to the state governments view that the term of the agreements had expired several years ago, and that the NHPC had no claim or right over them now.
In an interview, the director of finance for the Corporation, ABL Srivastava, said: There is nothing illegal in the NHPC running power projects in the state.
If some political party has been demanding the return of power projects in Jammu and Kashmir, or raising this issue, the NHPC will take the matter up with the union power ministry, he said.
So far as the Corporation and the union power ministry are concerned, there is no question of returning any power projects (to J and K), Srivastava said.
The NHPC has made it abundantly clear that returning power projects constructed jointly with the state is out of the question, he said.
The NHPC owns 49 per cent of the projects, the state government another 49 per cent, and the Power Development Corporation the remaining 49 per cent, he said.
Therefore, any project under the NHPC cannot be returned to the state, he said.
This is the state of the Corporation and the government of India, he said. But if the state government raises the issue again, we will approach the union power ministry, and ask it to decide keeping the NHPCs interests in mind, he said.
Several projects are held up because of disputes. This is a matter of concern, as is the issue of low income which we have taken up with the Central Electricity Regulatory Authority, he said.
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