Baglihar: First phase to be completed next year

SRINAGAR: The first phase of Baglihar power project, over which India and Pakistan have differences, will be completed next year.

Disclosing this Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad said the plant will produce 450 MW of electricity that will meet the needs of the state facing acute power crisis, once the first phase is commissioned.

"The first phase of Baglihar hydro electic project will be completed next year," Azad said while inaugurating the Editors Conference on 'Social Infrastructure: Focus on Jammu and Kashmir' here along with Union Rural Development Minister Raghuvans Prasad Singh.

The project, being built in Doda, is mired in a controversy with Pakistan raising objection over the design of the dam and the alleged violation of the 1960 Indus Water Treaty.

After two countries failed to resolve the matter bilaterally, it was referred to World Bank, which is a party to the Indus Water Treaty, last year. The matter is now under international arbitration.

Azad, while talking about the destruction of infrastructure in the state due to 17-year-old militancy, said power shortage is a major problem for the state and efforts were underway to tackle the situation.

He said the 390 MW Dul Hasti power project will be completed this year. He also asked the Centre to provide 1,000 MW power to the state particularly for winter months.