STATE TIMES NEWS
KISHTWAR: Union Minister, Dr Jitendra Singh said on Saturday that Kishtwar is all set to emerge North India’s major “power hub” generating around 6,000 MW of power after the completion of the ongoing power projects.
Dr Jitendra, who was an extensive tour of the remote and peripheral areas of the hill district of Kishtwar, visited Gulabgarh in the Paddar area and far-off village of Massu, where he also inaugurated the new School set up by “Shiksha Bharti”.
Later, Dr Jitendra held public interactions in remote village Massu as well as in Gulabgarh. He also addressed the local PRIs including BDC Members, Councillors, Sarpanches as well as prominent activists of the region. During his address and later speaking to the media, Dr Jitendra Singh said that 6 to 7 major Hydro power projects have come in the region in a short span of 9 to 10 years ever since Narendra Modi took over as Prime Minister.
Elaborating on this, he pointed out that the largest capacity project is Pakal Dul with a capacity of 1000 MW. Its estimated cost, as of now, is Rs.8,112.12 crore and expected timeline of competition is 2025. Another major project is Kiru Hydroelectric project with a capacity of 624 MW. The estimated cost of the project is Rs. 4,285.59 crore and the timeline in this case is also 2025, he said.
The Minister further informed that at the same time, 850 MW Ratle project has been revived as a joint venture between the centre and UT of J&K. In addition, the existing Dulhasti power station has an installed capacity of 390 MW, while Dulhasti II Hydroelectric project will have a capacity of 260 MW.
Dr Jitendra Singh said these projects shall not only augment the power supply position thereby making up for the shortage of power supply in the UT of J&K , but the huge investment being made for construction of these projects is also a boost for direct as well as indirect opportunities for the local people.
For six long decades, said Dr Jitendra, the successive governments at the Centre and the State had ignored Kishtwar region because of their vote bank politics. It was only after Prime Minister Modi took over that he changed the work culture and ensured that all neglected regions would be given their due attention and priority so that they may also rise to the same level. For example, he said, for several years, people here had been agitating and demanding a Degree college for Paddar but Congress and National Conference governments deliberately ignored this demand. It was only after Prime Minister Narendra Modi took over in 2014 that a Degree college was sanctioned for Paddar under Centre’s scheme RUSA (Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan). Citing another example, Dr Jitendra Singh said that before 2014, road travel to Kishtwar was cumbersome and on the slightest landside, the Doda-Kishtwar road got blocked. But today, the road travel time from Jammu to Kishtwar has reduced from over 7 hours in 2014 to less than 5 hours now. Similarly, he said, during these 9 years, Kishtwar has come up on the Aviation Map of India and has been sanctioned an airport under Centre’s UDAAN Scheme, which nobody had ever imagined. Meanwhile, the Multi speciality medical camp organised by the Army at Gulabgarh provided medical care to nearly 2,000 patients.