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Indian Prime Minister to Visit Kashmir

By Fayaz Wani

Srinagar, March 1: Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh is to visit Kashmir soon to take stock of the Kashmir situation and inaugurate the hydro-electric project.

This he revealed during his meeting with pro-India chief minister of Kashmir, Ghulam Nabi Azad in the Indian capital, New Delhi, yesterday evening. During the meeting the Kashmir chief minister invited Prime Minister Singh to visit Kashmir. "The Indian Prime Minister accepted the invitation and told the Kashmir Chief minister that he would visit Kashmir soon to take stock of the situation and inaugurate the 390 MW Dulhasti Power project in the violence hit region," an official spokesman told NewsBlaze.

The work on 390 MW Dulhasti power project at Kishtwar in the mountainous Doda region started in 1989 and it was scheduled to be commissioned in 1994 at the cost of Rs 1260 crores. However, the date of commission was rescheduled a number of times and now the project is complete and waits the official opening.

The project's final cost was Rs 2700 crores.

The project was awarded for execution on a turnkey basis to a French consortium in 1989 for completing in 1994. However, in 1992 the consortium sought extension by a few months but it abandoned the project in July 1992.

Thereafter, talks were held between the Indian government and the French government until 1997 to resolve the dispute. Finally, the civil contractor of the consortium was allowed to withdraw from the project and the project was handed over to an Indian company.

Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.