Governor Bandaru Dattatraya has requested the Government of India to expedite the process of granting Investment Clearance to Renukaji Dam (40 MW) project so that the project proposal gets approved from the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) and the project construction activities could see the light of the day.
In a letter written to Gajendra Singh Shekhawat, Minister for Jal Shakti, Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, Governor said that the State Government was fully committed to fulfill the objectives of the project and all technical clearances have been obtained. He said that statutory clearances i.e Environmental Clearance, Forest Clearance (Stage-I) etc. have also been obtained. Only Forest clearance Stage–II was left, which would be obtained after receipt of funds from Government of India and subsequent deposition of Rs. 577.62 crore in the state CAMPA account, he added.
Shri Dattatraya said that it was a project of ‘National Importance’ and would provide 49800 ha m (0.498 BCM) of live storage in its reservoir and a firm water supply to the tune of 23 cusecs to Delhi. Six states of the Yamuna Basin i.e Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Himachal Pradesh and Rajasthan would benefit from the project, he added. He said that the project would also provide 40 MW of clean power to Himachal Pradesh and carried immense importance for socio-economic development of the remote area of this District.
He said that some processes needed to be fast-tracked to bring the project on the ground. He said that investment clearance proposal was pending for approval in the Ministry of Jal Shakti and after this clearance, the project proposal shall be put up before Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) for approval. He said that only after this approval flow of funds from the Government of India would start and all the submissions needed for these approvals stand completed by the State Government.
The Governor said that the State Government have to pay to the landowners the enhanced land compensation as per the decisions given by the various reference/appellate courts. This would be possible only when funds start coming from the centre and in absence of such funds State Government was facing difficult situations in these courts, he added.