Ranjit Sagar Dam Agreement | Punjab Govt can’t backtrack from commitment: CM Omar

Jammu, Apr 2: Chief Minister Omar Abdullah Thursday asserted that the Punjab government could not backtrack from its commitment made in an agreement signed with the J&K government in 1979 vis-à-vis compensation, employment for locals, and UT’s 20 percent share of electricity from the Ranjit Sagar dam project as it was a sovereign commitment.

The Chief Minister assured the House that he would take up the issue with my Punjab counterpart and would remind him of all these commitments because it was not an individual commitment.

They would be convinced to fulfil their commitment in letter and spirit, he stated.

The Chief Minister’s assertion was in reply to the question of BJP MLA from Basohli Darshan Kumar and the supplementaries raised by Kumar and his senior party colleague Sham Lal Sharma during the Question Hour.

CM Omar, who also holds charge of the Power Minister, stated that as per the 1979 agreement, J&K was entitled to 20 percent of the total power generated at Thein Dam and Shahpur Kandi Barrage at busbar cost of generation. He added that a power sale agreement between PSPCL and JKPCL was signed on October 11, 2019, for the sale and purchase of power from the Ranjit Sagar Dam project.

“However, no power is currently being injected into J&K’s system due to lack of transmission infrastructure. The provisional tariff payable to PSPCL stands at Rs 3.5 per kWh,” he said.

The Chief Minister also clarified that there was no proposal under consideration to provide subsidised or free electricity to consumers in the Basohli constituency, where the project was located.

On compensation to project-affected families, the Chief Minister said, “The total compensation amount stands at Rs 85.48 Cr, out of which Rs 71.15 Cr has been released by the Punjab Government, leaving a pending amount of Rs 14.32 Cr.”

He added that Rs 5.41 Cr in interest accrued on earlier released funds was utilised by the Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, for land compensation, bringing the adjusted pending amount to Rs 8.90 Cr. Further, he informed that Rs 1.10 Cr was to be paid as per various court orders, while pending interest as of September 30, 2025, stands at Rs 27.02 Cr, taking the total liability to Rs 37.03 Cr.

Against this, Rs 21.08 Cr was received in 2020, leaving a balance of Rs 15.94 Cr in the compensation account including interest as on September 30. 2025. So far, Rs 50.51 Cr has been disbursed.

Explaining the delay in disbursement of full compensation, the Chief Minister said that non-submission of requisite documents by some landowners remained a major hurdle.

“These documents include compensation applications, bank account details, PAN cards and Aadhaar cards. He said that the Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, has issued multiple public notices urging landowners to submit the required documents to facilitate timely release of compensation. The government is committed to ensuring that all eligible beneficiaries receive their dues once procedural formalities are completed,” CM Omar stated.

However, this point was contested by Darshan Kumar.

Regarding employment, the Chief Minister said the matter was taken up with the concerned dam authorities through the Deputy Commissioner, Kathua, for providing jobs to 816 affected families.

He further informed that, as per Government Order No. 340-PW (Hyd) of 2018 dated September 28, 2018, employment to oustees was to be provided by the Government of Punjab in accordance with the agreed Rehabilitation and Resettlement (R&R) Policy of both governments. He added that jobs would be extended to eligible oustees strictly as per the provisions of the policy.

“The suggestion forwarded by the MLA (Darshan Kumar) regarding compensation will be definitely considered by the government. Our objective is that the (compensation) money should reach the people. But at the same time, we need to remind them that the money cannot be disbursed to them without completing all requisite formalities vis-à-vis documents. As I’ve already said in my reply that we remind those families repeatedly, through DC, that they complete all the formalities so that the money can be disbursed to them,” the Chief Minister reiterated.

On this account, he also sought the help of the concerned MLA (Darshan Kumar).

“If the MLA also helps us (government) in expediting the completion of formalities. As soon as the formalities get completed, we will disburse the money. With regard to the concern about jobs, I’ve admitted in my reply that the Punjab government was supposed to fulfil this commitment as per the agreement. To some extent, the commitment has been fulfilled – as the MLA has stated that jobs given are not as per status (qualification) of the beneficiaries. We will take up this issue with the Punjab government and ask them to implement the agreement they signed with us (J&K) in 1979, in letter and spirit,” the Chief Minister assured the House.

BJP MLA and the former (PHE) minister Sham Lal Sharma, while raising a supplementary to the question, recalled that when the MoU was signed between two governments – both the states were being ruled by taller personalities. Late Sheikh Muhammad Abdullah was the Chief Minister of J&K while Prakash Singh Badal was the Chief Minister of Punjab.

“In 2009, when the NC-Congress government was in power, we reopened the case. The first phase of the dam has been completed and presently the second phase is underway. My submission is that the terms and conditions in the MoU have not been fulfilled by the Punjab government. We had pursued the matter again in 2013-14. We had exchanged communiques with them on that account when Prakash Singh Badal was still alive and some progress was also achieved on that account,” Sham Sharma reminisced.

He recounted that 20 percent electricity of the total power generated at busbar cost of generation was to be provided to J&K but it was not given.

“We should claim it. Besides, commitments related to 300 cusec water, proper rehabilitation of displaced persons were not fulfilled. The Chief Minister in his reply too has admitted that they (Punjab government) have yet to provide over 800 jobs to affected people in J&K. I request the Chief Minister to use his good offices to ask them to fulfil their commitment,” Sham Sharma stated.

The Chief Minister agreed to the contention of BJP MLA and former minister, saying, “MLA Sham Sharma is right in saying as he (Sham) had endeavoured hard that time (as minister) in our earlier (NC-Congress) government to pursue this matter. As per his suggestion, at my own level, I’ll take up the issue with my counterpart – Chief Minister in Punjab; will remind him of all the commitments. Because this is not an individual commitment, it is a sovereign commitment between the Government of Punjab and the Government of Jammu and Kashmir.”

“They cannot backtrack from their commitment; the question does not arise. We will remind them and we will convince them that they will have to fulfil their commitment,” the Chief Minister remarked.

Darshan Kumar stated that 1,11,740 kanals of land of J&K was taken for construction of the dam.

“I fail to understand why the government was apathetic towards this dam and the plight of the people of Basohli. Thousands of families were displaced. But they (Punjab government) did great injustice to our people. People are suffering as they have not been paid compensation. The commitments related to free power and a residential colony for the affected too have not been fulfilled. 20 percent power to J&K is not being given,” Darshan Kumar rued.

He alleged that as per qualification, jobs have not been given to affected people. “They have been given class IV jobs. They were promised that they would be provided jobs near the project area. But they were provided jobs in Sangrur and other far-off areas of Punjab – far away from their homes in J&K. 152 families, which have been given jobs, are untraceable,” BJP MLA stated.

In a separate written reply to PDP legislator Aga Syed Muntazir Mehdi about outstanding power dues of government departments, security establishments, the Chief Minister informed that KPDCL and JPDCL had to collectively recover Rs 374735.42 lakh (3747.35 Cr).

As per the statistics, the government departments and security establishments owed Rs 231022.41 lakhs to KPDCL and Rs 143713.01 lakhs to JPDCL.

“The DISCOMs are vigorously following the defaulting departments for recovery of the outstanding power dues,” the CM Omar said.

In reply to the question if the Power Development Department was contemplating extending the power amnesty scheme beyond March, 2026, the Chief Minister replied in negative.

“There is no such proposal under the consideration of the government,” he replied.