With the 99-year lease agreement of the country’s first hydroelectric project presently under the control of the Punjab State Power Corporation Ltd (PSPCL) in Himachal Pradesh ending in 2024, the maintenance of the 110 MW British-era power plant, which stands amidst the lush green dense deodar forests in the Barot Valley, is going down the drain.
Commissioned in 1932, the Shanan hydroelectric plant was constructed under a 99-year lease deed executed between Jogendra Sen, the then Mandi ruler, and Col. B.C. Batty, the then Chief Engineer of the Punjab government, in 1925.
The project in Jogindernagar in Mandi district has been facing a public outcry for long as locals say it is located in the state and using the state’s water for generating power
