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Journalism of Courage
AMID ONE of Jammu and Kashmir’s worst electricity crises, power politics was back in the spotlight last week after Ratle Hydro Power Corporation Limited (RHPCL) signed a power purchase agreement for its 850 MW project with Rajasthan Urja Vikas and IT Services Limited.
As a part of the agreement, off-take of power will begin from the project, whose construction is underway on the Chenab river in the Kishtwar region, for a period of 40 years from the day it begins commercial operations. RHPCL is a joint venture of the NHPC and J-K State Power Development Corporation (JKSPDC).
The agreement comes at a time when the Union Territory is going through a severe electricity shortage. While outages are not uncommon in the Valley’s harsh winters, when demand shoots up, for the first time in decades, there were long power cuts in summers too.
The new deal has invited fresh criticism from mainstream political parties, which have accused the Centre of robbing J&K of its resources, at a time when it is directly running the Union Territory under President’s Rule.
“We are facing a never-witnessed power crisis, and our hydroelectric resources are still being outsourced to other states. Yet another decision that will rob the people of basic amenities has been taken with an intention to collectively punish the inhabitants of Jammu and Kashmir,” former chief minister and Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) chief Mehbooba Mufti said.
The National Conference (NC) said the Centre should come clean on the agreement, as it has added to the “feeling of betrayal” among the people. “The agreement has stirred a hornet’s nest as the terms and conditions, on the face of it, seem to be disadvantageous for Jammu and Kashmir. Also, power purchase agreements are generally signed for 20 years. However, in this case, it has been signed for 40 years at a pre-negotiated price.” NC spokesperson Imran Nabi said.
Agreements around water and power are a touchy issue in J&K as the general feeling is that the Centre does not compensate it for the loss due to the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, while the NHPC has signed deals offering J&K only 12% royalty for the power generated in its territory. A long-standing demand of parties has been the return of control of some projects to J&K.
Returning control of NHPC projects to the erstwhile state was part of the PDP-BJP government’s “Agenda of Alliance”, a condition placed by the PDP.
J&K is estimated to have a potential of generating 20,000 MW of power, and produces on an average 3,500 MW daily, with another 6,000 MW in the pipeline. A majority of the power generated in the Union Territory is by the NHPC, which is not utilised in its jurisdiction. According to officials, the current power demand in J&K is estimated to be around 2,600 MW daily.
A long dry spell has caused hydro power generation in J&K to hit a record low of 2,100 MW (1,200 MW for Kashmir division and 900 MW for Jammu division), leaving Kashmir witnessing long power cuts in the biting cold. Kashmir Distribution Corporation Limited has announced power cuts for up to 56 hours a week (or 8 hours a day). While it had announced that metered areas would face daily power outage of four-and-a-half hours, and non-metered areas daily night outage, over the last two months, the corporation has failed to adhere to the schedule.
“They (government) are calling it Naya Kashmir but I think the old Kashmir was better for us. We have not seen such power crises in the past two decades,” says Ghulam Nabi Mir, a resident of the Old City. “We hardly get power for 12 hours a day, sometimes even less. There is no schedule being followed,” he adds.
The situation in the Valley’s rural areas is worse. “We get electricity for a few minutes and then it is off. When we are supposed to have electricity, local officials cut it citing overload,” says Bashir Ahmad Malik, a resident of Kupwara.
While officials cite low generation and high demand as the reason for the frequent power outages, sources say the change of policy from the national grid is a major cause.
“In winters, we always have low power generation and we have to buy electricity. What has changed is that in the past we would buy electricity at the last moment, say a day before. Since any power at that time would be surplus, it would be relatively cheaper for us. Sometimes, we would miss out because of higher demand from other states. Even then we would purchase electricity and pay later at a convenient time,” the source said.
“This time around, we are being asked for advance payment and the government doesn’t have enough money to.purchase power. That is why there is a push for smart meters. The government wants to convert the meters to pre-paid, collect money from people and purchase power so the exchequer is not burdened,” the source added.
The start of the power politics in J&K lies in the Indus Water Treaty of 1960 signed between India and Pakistan. The treaty permitted unrestricted usage of eastern rivers of the Indus basin passing through J&K to India, while Pakistan got similar access to the rivers on the western side of the Indus basin.
While northern states like Punjab, Rajasthan and Haryana benefited, J&K suffered as the treaty banned storing of river waters and allowed only run-of-the-river usage. Parties in J&K frequently point out that the erstwhile state never got any compensation for the losses incurred due to the treaty.
Despite the considerably reduced hydropower generation potential due to the treaty, J&K was still seen as capable of generating 20,000 MW of electricity — four times its current energy demand — as four major rivers flow in its territory. However, as the state government did not have enough capital to build and operate high-value power plants, the NHPC entered the scene. Among the projects it helped build were Salal in Jammu and Uri I and II in Kashmir.
However, J&K’s grouse has been that the agreement let the NHPC get away with providing only 12% of the total power generated to the state, and taking the rest to outside the state, despite utilising the key resources of land and water of the state. The Centre has promised in the past to transfer the power projects to the state after a stipulated time, but this has not materalised.
In 1995, with an aim to build its own power plants and be self-sufficient, the J&K government constituted JKSPDC, which began the construction of the Baghliar power project in 1999 and commissioned it in 2008.
Buoyed by the success of the Baghliar project, JKSPDC commenced the Ratle power project under BOOT (build, own, operate, transfer) scheme, with its construction taken up by GVK Construction. However, the firm walked out of the project a few years later.
Later, in 2019, after J&K had come under Central rule, an MoU was signed between the NHPC and JKSPDC, which an equity share of 51% and 49% respectively for its construction.
