To help the state tide over the power crisis, the Jammu and Kashmir Government will commission the first phase of the Baglihar power project, generating 450 MW, by June this year. Nearly 90 per cent of the work on the project has been completed. The Rs 3,800-crore project will meet one-third of the state’s power requirement, apart from providing employment to thousands of people living in the areas of Ramban, Banihal, Doda and Gulabgarh. “The first phase of the 900-MW project will be commissioned by June this year,” said Power Development Department commissioner secretary Basharat Dhar. Although work on the project began in 1999 and it was slated to be commissioned earlier, Pakistan’s claim that the dam height violated the Indus Water Treaty delayed the project.
