There has been no breakthrough in the standoff between the Himachal government and the Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam Limited (SJVNL) over concessions in electricity projects, despite a meeting chaired by the central energy secretary (CES) last week.
The meeting took place in Delhi and was attended by state government officials, including energy secretary Rajeev Sharma and director of energy Hari Kesh Meena.
In the meeting, Himachal government stated its position in front of CES Pankaj Agrawal. The government emphasised that SJVNL should come to the negotiation table according to the terms of the MOUs.
There was no need to take this matter to the high court, officials said. They added that the state government no longer has the authority to grant concessions such as royalty in electricity projects.
Sources said that the next steps will be determined after the hearing in the HC scheduled for November 6th.
The Himachal government is not in favour of extending the concessions given to SJVNL in three electricity projects - Dhaulasiddh, Luhri, and Sunni Dam - that were granted during the tenure of the former Jairam Thakur government, sources said.
The state government argued that SJVNL is an independent power producer and will hence not get separate concessions. In these three projects, the royalty was reduced from 12% to 4% by the former government, while under the old policy, the state government has also started receiving 18% free power from the Kinnuar Wangtu power project. Therefore, the state government’s stance is that SJVNL should also implement the projects as per the current energy policy.
{{/usCountry}}The state government argued that SJVNL is an independent power producer and will hence not get separate concessions. In these three projects, the royalty was reduced from 12% to 4% by the former government, while under the old policy, the state government has also started receiving 18% free power from the Kinnuar Wangtu power project. Therefore, the state government’s stance is that SJVNL should also implement the projects as per the current energy policy.
{{/usCountry}}However, during the Delhi meeting, SJVNL raised concerns about cost escalation and delays in the projects inaugurated by the Prime Minister. SJVNL is yet to sign an implementation agreement with the state government for these three projects.
SJVN, formerly known as Satluj Jal Vidyut Nigam, is an public sector undertaking involved in hydroelectric power generation and transmission.