BBMB draws new plan, HP, Chandigarh gainers
Gurpreet Singh Nibber
CHANDIGARH:

SHIFTING EQUATIONS Apex court ruling translates into losses to Punjab and Haryana, Rajasthan's share to remain unchanged WHILE HIMACHAL GAINS BY 127 MW, CHANDIGARH BY 33 MW, PUNJAB WILL HAVE TO FOREGO 95 MW, HARYANA 65 MW; SHARE OF RAJASTHAN SAME

Acting on Supreme Court directions to give 7.19% power to Himachal Pradesh against its present share of 2.5%, the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB) has worked out a fresh allocation plan, as per which Himachal Pradesh gains by 127 MW and Chandigarh by 33 MW.
Punjab and Haryana, on the other hand, will have to forego 95 MW and 65 MW, respectively.
A Supreme Court bench had delivered the verdict on September 27 on a petition filed by the Himachal government in 1996 stating that Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan and Chandigarh had deprived the state of its legitimate share despite the fact that 27,869 acres of its land had got submerged in the Bhakra dam reservoir. BBMB officials said there would be no change in the allocation of power to Rajasthan.
“A reallocation plan is in place, but the final decision on its implementation will be taken by the union power ministry,“ said a senior BBMB official.

He said that as per the court's verdict, Chandigarh would get 3.5% power from the shares of Punjab and Haryana.

“If any of the states files a review petition, the implementation of the Supreme Court order might get delayed,“ said the official.

As per the Supreme Court directions, Punjab will get 1,162 MW as against its present allocation of 1,257 MW and Haryana, which is at present getting 877 MW, will be allocated 812 MW of power.

The allocation to Rajasthan (654 MW) will remain unchanged. Himachal Pradesh, on the other hand, will get 127 MW as against its present allocation of 31 MW. The power share of Chandigarh will also go up from 44 MW to 77 MW.

As per the fresh plan worked out by the BBMB on “weighted average basis“ (proportional average of each state), out of the total generation capacity of 2,864.73 MW of BBMB projects, which include Bhakra (1,478.73 MW), Dehar (990 MW) and Pong (396 MW) projects, 40.56% would go to Punjab as against 43.89% earlier, Haryana's share would go down from 30.63% to 28.34%, but Rajasthan's allocation would remain unchanged at 22.85%.

The share of Himachal Pradesh, on the other hand, will go up from 1.09% to 5.55% and that of Chandigarh from 1.53% to 2.7%.

Meanwhile, the apex court has rejected Himachal's demand for 12% free power.

The Supreme Court has directed the union government to calculate the monetary entitlement of HP against denial of 7.19% of power since 1966 at the time of the reorganisation of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.

Rajasthan's share remains unchanged since all calculations of power allocations (and subsequent reallocation after the SC order) are made after keeping aside Rajasthan's share as it has been the main shareholder with Punjab before the states of Haryana and Himachal came into being.

Rajasthan has a 15.22% share in Bhakra, 20% share in Dehar and 58.5% share in Pong power project.