Aiming to revive the empty coffers of Himachal Pradesh, the government has formed a committee to collect royalty from different hydropower projects in the state.
The committee will be headed by director energy Harikesh Meena has been assigned the responsibility of convincing the power projects to pay royalties. The committee constituted under the chairmanship of the energy director has included officials from the state electricity board and power corporation as members. This committee will soon prepare a report on the entire matter and raise the matter in the interests of the state before the Central Electricity Authority. The government has already issued a notice to Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited to give more electricity free in royalty. Efforts have now begun to resolve the matter through the mediation of the central authority to get the state’s fair share.
Chief minister Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu has recently met Union new and renewable energy minister RK Singh in New Delhi regarding this matter. The CM had discussed with RK Singh about protecting the interests of the state in the face of revenue loss due to delayed royalty in the power projects of SJVN and NHPC in the state. The chief minister had requested to provide free electricity under the state’s electricity policy and raised the issue of getting these projects back to the state after 40 years.