The Uttarakhand government will soon begin rehabilitation of around 13,00 families likely to be displaced by the Jamrani Dam Multipurpose Power Project (JDMPP) that was recently cleared by the Union Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs(CCEA).

Thanking Prime Minister Narendra Modi for clearing the project, Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami informed on Saturday that his government had ratified the rehabilitation plan for the affected families in the month of May.

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“Clearance granted by the union cabinet committee on economics affairs has given a kick start to a nearly 48-year-old project that was proposed in 1970s. Now, the government is gearing up to work out a rehabilitation action plan for the affected people. All affected families will be suitably accommodated at the places identified by the government and with their consent” said the chief minister while speaking to the media.

Dhami informed that Rs 1,730 crore of nearly Rs 2,590-crore project cost will be borne by the center and the state respectively on a 90:10 proportion. “This became possible only after the prime minister assured us in his Pithoragarh visit on October 12” said Dhami.

It’s significant that the CCEA granted its much-awaited nod for inclusion of JDMPP under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana’s (PMKSY) accelerated irrigation benefit programme on October 25. This was a major blockade to bring the project to the ground.

Nearly six villages are likely to come in the submergence area of the Jamrani power project according to the survey done by the state government in 2021. The official record, as shared by the principal secretary of power, Dr R  Meenakshi Sundaram, nearly 13,00 families will be rehabilitated at alternate locations in the coming days.

The 14 MW hydropower project is proposed to be constructed 10 kilometers away from Kathgodam 150 meters upstream on River Gola in Haldwani of district Nainital. It includes construction of a dam at Jamrani village. The dam will also act as a feeder to the Gola River barrage and its canal system. Besides this, it will irrigate nearly 1,50,000 hectares of agricultural land in four districts of Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. Besides this, more than 10 lakh people will be benefitted in Nainital and Udhamsingh Nagar in Uttarakhand and Rampur in Uttar Pradesh.