Pancheshwar awaits R&R policy

New Delhi: The 6,000 Mw Pancheshwar multi-purpose project, for which a treaty was signed between India and Nepal in 1996, is yet to see the light of day for lack of consensus between the two countries on a rehabilitation policy.

The project, which would cost nearly Rs 30,000 crore over 10 years, also does not have a detailed project report (DPR) yet.

According to official sources, the project which seeks to build a storage dam on Mahakali river at the boundary of India and Nepal, would lead to submergence of 60 villages affecting about 19,700 people in Pithoragarh and Champawat districts of Uttarakhand.

Nearly 80 per cent of the total catchment area for the project would be in India and the rest in Nepal.

The sources in India said agreement on many issues among various states has to be reached with regard to this project.

“At that time, Uttarakhand can think of rehabilitating the ousted in Uttar Pradesh... In Uttarakhand there is an acute problem of availability of land,” the sources said.

Also, the sharing of electricity between the countries has to be addressed when the DPR is finalised and an agreement for construction with Nepal is signed.

“No agreement has been finalised so far. The issue has to be decided on the basis of ‘Mahakali Treaty’ between India and Nepal,” the sources said. The treaty on development of Mahakali river, known as Sarda in India, had been signed between the countries in February 1996, and came into force in June 1997.

The Pancheshwar project would also facilitate regulated release of water contributing to development of irrigation potential and control flood downstream.

There is also a proposal to construct a regulatory dam downstream of Pancheshwar dam. While India wants to construct it at Purnagiri in Uttarakhand, Nepal is interested in building it at Rupaligarh so that the R&R problem in Nepal in minimised.

Two high-level committees — India-Nepal Joint Committee on Water Resources and the Joint Group of Experts (JGE) — were formed for speeding the project. The JGE was entrusted with the task of preparing a DPR for the project. The committees last met in October 2004.