Kishau project: Bindal questions Sukhu’s Rs 1,500-crore annual revenue claim

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Bindal questions Kishau project terms, water share and financial benefits for Himachal

Shimla, September 21

Himachal Pradesh BJP president Rajeev Bindal on Monday questioned Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu’s claim that the state would earn Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 1,500 crore annually from the Kishau Multipurpose Project, alleging the government was compromising farmers’ interests and the state’s water resources.

Addressing a press conference in Shimla, Bindal said the project has an estimated cost of ₹15,624 crore, with the water component accounting for Rs 12,096 crore and the power component Rs 3,528 crore. The Center has agreed to bear 90 per cent of the water-component cost under the national project framework.

Bindal questioned why Himachal Pradesh needed to give up its water share when the Center was bearing most of the water-component cost. He said under the earlier arrangement, the state had to bear a financial burden while Delhi and Rajasthan received its water share.

The BJP leader alleged that Himachal Pradesh had effectively given its water resources to other states for a long period and claimed Rajasthan was paying around Rs 441 crore for the water. He said the government should assess the arrangement’s long-term implications for farmers, particularly in Sirmaur.

Bindal also questioned the projected financial benefits from the power component, saying the government should consider future electricity tariffs and compare hydropower costs with cheaper renewable energy sources.

Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi signed the Kishau project agreement on September 15. The Center said the 422-MW project will have a 232.6-meter-high dam, a storage capacity of 1,562 million cubic meters, irrigation potential of 97,000 hectares, and generation of 1,476 million units of hydropower.

Bindal said the project was first conceived in the 1940s, with a report prepared in 1964, but could not progress for decades. He credited the Centre’s recent intervention for bringing the participating states to an agreement.

His remarks come amid a political dispute between the BJP and Congress over the terms and financial implications of the Kishau agreement. Sukhu said the new arrangement could provide Himachal Pradesh with annual benefits of Rs 1,200 crore to Rs 1,500 crore, without the earlier financial burden on the state.