Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Saturday said that he has raised various issues prominently with the Union Power Minister R K Singh pertaining to the power sector during his stay in Himachal Pradesh.
He said that keeping in view the interests of the state, the Union government has also been requested to formulate a Scheme to develop infrastructure for facilitating hydro power projects of less than 25 MW capacity in Himachal Pradesh.
As against this, the Union Minister has also assured to bring a scheme soon keeping in view the interests of the project developers, he added.
He also urged him to complete the process for the time-bound transfer of Shanan Hydroelectric Project to Himachal Pradesh.
“I have also apprised the Union Minister about the issues related to ownership of the Shanan Hydel project and also about its lease period which is expiring in March 2024,” he said.
The Union Minister was apprised that the ownership rights of the Shanan project does not rest with the Punjab Government as it was only given on lease to the Punjab Government he said, adding that the Union Minister has assured to address all the issues in a time bound manner.
The Chief Minister said that he took up various aspects of free power sale with the Union Minister, on which he has assured to look into it sympathetically.
He said that the state government has taken up the issue of providing incentives to Himachal Pradesh to enhance competitiveness for the production of Green Hydrogen in the market, in analogy to Solar power.
He apprised him that the state government is providing various incentives in order to promote the usage of Electric Vehicles in the state.
The Union Minister was also briefed that a target of 500 MW of Solar power production in the state has been fixed for 2023-24.