Chief Minister addresses Press Conference on Jamrani and Lakhwar Dam projects
By Arun Pratap Singh
Dehradun, 28 Oct: Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami today held a press conference in respect of the Union Government’s approval to the long pending Jamrani Dam project at the Mukhya Sewak Hall at the CM’s Residence here today. Addressing the media, Dhami claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has made it clear several times that he has a strong emotional and spiritual bond with Uttarakhand and that people of Uttarakhand also love Modi and they treat him as one of their own family members. He said that the Economic Affairs Committee of the Union Cabinet has given its approval to the Jamrani Dam project. The CM expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for approving this important scheme. The Chief Minister said that the construction of this dam project will solve the problem of drinking water and irrigation in Haldwani and surrounding areas and will also generate electricity. Jamrani Dam will have a height of 150.60 metre and it will be constructed on the Gaula River upstream near Kathgodam in Nainital district. The CM said that the state government had been pursuing this project with the union ministries concerned including the Jal Shakti Ministry and the Ministry of Environment.
The CM reminded that he had been personally pursuing the approval of the project with the Prime Minister’s Office. During PM Modi’s Pithoragarh tour also, he personally urged the PM to get the project approved. The PM was fully aware of the need for approval of the project and due to his grace, the project has finally been approved. He added that about 1,50,000 hectares of cultivable area will benefit from irrigation facility from the project, along with the provision of providing 42 MCM drinking water to Haldwani city annually and generation of 63 million units of hydro power. The construction of the project could not start since 1975 due to lack of funding.
The Chief Minister said that under the Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (Large and Medium), the investment approval and screening committee of Jal Shakti Ministry gave approval for funding of Jamrani Dam project. The project has been approved on the 90:10 sharing basis with the Centre bearing 90 percent of the cost. The Central share amounting to Rs 1730.20 crores will be borne by the Government of India under PMKSY, while the remaining 10 percent of the project cost will be jointly borne by Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh. The final approval for transfer of 351.55 hectares of forest land affected by Jamrani Dam Project to the Irrigation Department was given by the Union Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change in the month of January 2023. This will make the path for the proposed dam construction easier and the proposal for the proposed 300.5 acres of land of Prag Farm for the displacement of the project affected families has been passed in the Cabinet of Uttarakhand Government on 18 May 2023. Action is also underway to transfer the above proposed land to the Irrigation Department soon. The CM also thanked Union Jal Shakti Minister Gajendra Shekhawat and Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav for their cooperation as well as Nainital MP and Union Minister of State Ajay Bhatt and former CM Bhagat Singh Koshiyari for their cooperation and persuasion with the Centre for approval of the project.
Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami also briefed the media in respect of the Lakhwar Hydro project and insisted that said that along with Uttarakhand, Himachal, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana will also get the benefit of water from Lakhwad Project. He reminded that PM Modi had assured him of approval of the Lakhwar project on 3 December, 2021 and by 30 December, the project was approved. The Chief Ministers of all the states have given its final approval. Under the Lakhwar project, a 204 metres high concrete dam will be built on the Yamuna river near Lohari village in Dehradun district of Uttarakhand. The water storage capacity of the dam will be 330.66 MCM. This will irrigate 33,780 hectares of land. Along with this, 78.83 MCM of water will be available for domestic and industrial use and drinking in the six states of Yamuna Basin region. The distribution of water stored under the project will be as per the agreement signed on 12 May, 1994 among the six states of Yamuna basin area. Only Uttarakhand will have the right on the electricity generated from this project.
The CM also stated that work on various Highway projects is also progressing rapidly. The work is rapidly going on in respect of Dehradun-New Delhi Express Way and not only this, the Cen has also approved a direct highway from Najibabad till Afzalgarh which will reduce the distance between Garhwal and Kumaon by one hour soon.
He also responded to various questions pertaining to the upcoming Global Investors Meet in Dehradun on 8 and 9 December. He said that the ‘Global Investors Summit’ is being organised in Uttarakhand to increase employment opportunities in the industrial sector along with self-employment. In response to a question by the reporters, Dhami said that the first Global Investors Meet in Uttarakhand had been held in 2018 and even then a large number of MoUs had been signed. He added that the government is in constant touch with many of those investors and is pursuing them for grounding those projects. As far as fresh efforts to attract investment are concerned, so far, MoUs worth Rs 65,000 crores have been signed in road shows held in the country and abroad. He said that the government has organised international road shows in London, Birmingham, Dubai, Abu Dhabi. In the country, apart from this, Delhi, road shows have also been organised in Chennai and Bengaluru and will soon be held in Mumbai also. He claimed that there is lot of serious interest among the investors to invest in Uttarakhand in view of the positive and conducive conditions prevalent here to promote industry. Single Window system has been improved and many policies have been improved. The suggestions being received from the industry are being seriously implemented.
In response to another related question, CM Dhami said that even the existing industrial organisations which are already operating from Uttarakhand have shown keen interest to expand and for them many relaxations in the rules are being ensured with regards to land use etc. He added that the government is keen to ensure grounding the proposals already received well before the proposed Global Investors Meet on 8 and 9 December in Dehradun.
On this occasion, MLA Suresh Chauhan, Sarita Arya, Chairman Agricultural Production and Marketing Board (Mandi) Anil Dabbu, Secretary R Meenakshi Sundaram, Director General Information Banshidhar Tiwari were present.
