The Central government has accorded approval to include Renukaji Dam project in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana (PMKSY), state chief minister Jai Ram Thakur said on Wednesday.

Thakur thanked the Union government for giving approval for the Renukaji Dam project as a part of PMKSY proposal a national project conceived as a storage project on Giri River, a tributary of River Yamuna, in Sirmaur district of Himachal Pradesh, and said the Union Cabinet’s meeting held at New Delhi today has given approval to it.

Thakur stated that in 2009, the Union government notified the scheme of ‘National Projects’ to take forward the projects stuck up for a long time due to interstate disputes, and the Renukaji Dam project was included in the scheme.

The DPR of the project was again accepted by TAC in 2015 for a total cost of Rs 4,596.76 crore, however, due to the non-signing of the Interstate Agreement between beneficiary states, the project could not be taken forward, the CM said.

Thakur further stated that after vigorous pursuance by the Government of India, the Interstate Agreement was signed amongst six beneficiary states of Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh on January 9, 2019.

After the signing of such an agreement, the DPR has once again been accepted by the Ministry of Jal Shakti on December 9, 2019 for a total cost of Rs 6,946.99 crore.

“The project envisages construction of a 148 metre high rockfill dam which would store the monsoon discharges which otherwise go unused, leading to formation of a 24 km long reservoir. The live storage of the dam would be 498 million cubic metres which would be used for supplying drinking water @ 23 cubic metres per second to National Capital Territory of Delhi.

It will also generate 200 million units of energy in a surface power house with 40 MW installed capacity which would be utilised by the state government.

The construction of the project is expected to start by December 2022 and would be completed in six years. The CAT plan works with a total outlay of Rs 160.34 crore would be done to improve the health of catchment. After commissioning, one percent of annual revenue would be distributed in affected areas every year,” he added.