Shanan Power Project: Punjab says 110-MW project its ‘right’, hours after Sukhu sought Centre help to reclaim it

The Punjab delegation, as per an official statement, said Shanan project is the right of Punjab under the Punjab Reorganization Act.

The Shanan project was commissioned in 1932. The Shanan hydroelectric powerhouse was built under a 99-year lease between Joginder Sen, the then king of Mandi state and British engineer Col BC Batty in 1925. During the reorganisation of states in November 1966, the powerhouse was given to Punjab for a 99-year lease which expired on March 2, 2024.

The Centre had, in March, ordered status quo on the project as an interim measure. Khattar is learnt to have told the state government that the matter was in the Supreme Court and the court would decide. To this, the ministers told him that the Centre should give its reply to SC in favour of Punjab.

Earlier in the day, Khattar had held a meeting with Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu who sought the Union government’s assistance in securing the return of Shanan Project from Punjab. Sukhu stated that Punjab’s lease period for the project has ended and urged the Union government to intervene to ensure the project’s transfer to the state, along with all its assets. The CM argued that the area of the Shanan Project was never part of erstwhile Punjab and hence the Punjab Re-organization Act of 1966 does not apply on it.

Khattar, sources said, assured Sukhu that he would review the Act and take appropriate action accordingly.

Later, Khttar told reporters in Shimla that he and Sukhu held a discussion on the Shanan project. “I have asked the state government to provide me with the concerned components of Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966 which deals with the Shanan project. I believe the two states will find a solution to the matter,” he said.

Sukhu had last month said that it was time for the Punjab government to handover the century-old power project to the state. Sukhu had also written to Punjab last year that they would not renew the lease. This had snowballed into a major controversy then. After writing the letter to Punjab, Sukhu had met Union Minister for Power R K Singh and asked for the Centre’s intervention.

He had wanted the Union Minister to issue “necessary directions to the Punjab government for taking mandatory steps for handing over the project to the State before the expiry of the lease period.”