The Uttarakhand government is working on a new power policy which will encourage local entrepreneurship in the power sector and hand over maintenance of micro and small hydel projects to the gram sabhas, Chief Minister Harish Rawat said on Thursday.

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Directives have been issued  to the power department to draft a policy which encourages involvement of locals in the power sector, especially in micro and small hydro-electricity projects ranging from 2 mw to 25 mw, Rawat told reporters. Under the proposed policy, Gram Sabhas will be entrusted with the responsibility of maintaining hydel projects with a capacity of producing 2MW of power,  he said.

To encourage local entrepreneurship in the power sector, the new policy will seek to give priority to locals in allotment of micro and small hydel projects through competitive bidding , the Chief Minister who also holds charge of the power department said.

Entrepreneurs in the plains will have the freedom to use 25% of the power produced by their projects in the manner they deem fit while those in the hills will have the liberty to use 50% of the power produced by them, he said.

The chief minister also announced that a five-member resource mobilisation committee headed by former chief secretary Indu Kumar Pandey has been constituted to explore ways for optimum utilisation of the state's resources.

A three-month timeframe has been given to the panel to submit its report on resource mobilisation which may be extended to six months. Rebutting BJP MP Ramesh Pokhariyal Nishank's charge of poor arrangements on Nanda Devi Raj Jat yatra route, Rawat without naming him said it was no mean achievement that thousands of people participated in a pilgrimage which passes through locations situated at a height of 16,700 ft above the sea level.

"It is a unique feat which is bound to impress anyone who hears about it in the country and abroad," he said.