Govt to set up hydel projects on its own

Govt to set up hydel projects on its own
Archit Watts /TNS

Jammu, April 2
After the “failure” of the Army in setting up micro-hydel power projects in the state, the government has decided to execute such projects on its own.

While replying to a question of Congress legislator Vijay Bakaya, Minister of Science and Technology ASR Mehdi said today in the Legislative Council that according to a survey report, only 18 per cent of the projects executed by the Army under the Border Area Development Programme, Ministry of New and Renewable Energy and the Operation Sadbhavana were functional.

“The IREP has conducted a survey of 524 micro-hydel power projects set up by the Army, out of which 388 were found to be non-functional, 37 were non-existent and the rest 99 were found to be test-functional,” said Mehdi, during Question Hour.

Bakaya said, “The test-functional projects are also expected to be found as non-functional soon, as the Army has failed in executing such projects”. Another NC legislator, Mohammad Rashid Qureshi, asked, “Is it essential to get the work done through the Army. Isn’t there any other mechanism?”

Mehdi said, “I agree with their concern, as the work done by the Army was not up to the expectations. Earlier, we constituted a committee in this regard and now we have put up the matter before the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy”. He added, “In future, the government has decided to install all micro-hydel power projects by itself”.