Himachal Steps Up BBMB Arrears Battle After Kishau Win, Seeks Centre's Intervention. But Khattar did nothing, so is case with Mann and Saini.
SHIMLA, JULY 13: Riding on what it describes as a major victory in restructuring the financial terms of the 422 MW Kishau multipurpose project, the Himachal Pradesh government has intensified its campaign to recover nearly ₹4,200 crore in long-pending arrears from the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB), bringing the politically sensitive issue back into national focus.
Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu on Monday held a detailed telephonic discussion with Union Power Minister Manohar Lal Khattar, urging the Centre to safeguard Himachal Pradesh's statutory rights and facilitate recovery of the state's long-pending dues.
Sukhu made it clear that Himachal would move ahead with the Kishau multipurpose project only after the Haryana government formally accepts its share of the BBMB arrears and files an affidavit before the Supreme Court. He asserted that the state cannot be expected to cooperate on fresh inter-state projects while its legitimate claims continue to remain unresolved.
The Chief Minister reminded the Union Minister that despite a Supreme Court ruling nearly 15 years ago recognizing Himachal Pradesh's 7.19 per cent share in BBMB projects and their benefits, the state has allegedly been denied 13,066 million units of electricity and the corresponding financial benefits for over a decade. The state is now pursuing legal and administrative measures to recover dues estimated at around ₹4,200 crore.
Khattar assured the Chief Minister that he would take up the matter with the Chief Ministers of Punjab and Haryana and explore ways to protect Himachal Pradesh's statutory rights.
Sukhu also recalled that in 2023 his government rejected the earlier agreement on the Kishau project under which Himachal would have been required to bear a substantial share of the power generation cost. Following fresh negotiations, the state now expects to earn around ₹600 crore annually without making any financial investment, a development the government has projected as a significant victory for Himachal's financial interests.
Political and fiscal test for the Centre
The renewed push now places the Union government in a delicate position. Punjab, governed by the Bhagwant Mann-led AAP government, and Haryana, headed by Nayab Singh Saini of the BJP, have themselves been grappling with mounting fiscal pressures in recent years.
Interestingly Khattar himself was CM of Haryana and Jai Ram Thakur was HP CM, but their double engine government did nothing in this regard.
Whether the Narendra Modi-led Union government can persuade—or pressure—the two neighbouring states to clear Himachal Pradesh's long-pending dues remains the key question.
Successive state governments in Himachal have raised the issue before the Centre and in courts, but with little tangible progress.
For the Sukhu government, which has repeatedly argued that the arrears are the state's rightful entitlement and essential for easing Himachal's fragile finances, the BBMB dispute has become one of its biggest fiscal and political battles.
Despite the Chief Minister repeatedly demanding the release of the dues, the issue has remained largely unresolved, raising fresh doubts over whether the latest intervention by the Union Power Minister will finally translate into action or become another chapter in a long-running inter-state dispute.
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