Says discussing IWT would amount to toing BJP line, J&K only place in country that provides power to States but remains in dark
TDD Correspondent
Srinagar, (TDD) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) Chief Mehbooba Mufti today in an obvious reference to Chief Minister Omar Abdullah said instead of finding faults in the Indus Water Treaty, a collective approach must be adopted to seek the return of at least two power projects back from the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC) Ltd.
Talking tor reporters in Srinagar, the PDP chief said that J&K has suffered a lot, rather immensely in the past over three decades. “The damage caused to J&K can never be healed. Indus Water Treaty remained intact despite wars and confrontations between two nuclear powers. There is no doubt hat J&K suffered huge losses due to it. But the fact remains that the issue is settled between India and Pakistan,” she said.
Mehbooba said that opening this issue (IWT), would tantamount to toeing the BJP line, she said in an apparent reference to CM Omar who during the power conference in Delhi yesterday blamed IWT for huge power losses of J&K and termed it as a major roadblock in the way of exploring the huge hydro potential of the J&K.
“Instead of touching the IWT, CM Omar, PDP and others must adopt a collective approach towards seeking the return of at least two power projects from NHPC to J&K,” Mehbooba advocated.
She said it was the then Chief Minister of J&K Dr Farooq Abdullah who handed over seven power projects to NHPC and before him, his father late Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah had also given away Salar power project to NHPC.
“Rangarajan committee has advocated return of power projects to J&K. So if NHPC won’t return the power projects to us, it should compensate us duly,” she said. “J&K is the only place that despite producing the power remains in dark for hours together during bone chilling cold in winters.”—(TDD)