Claiming to boost the development process in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, inaugurates various projects in Jammu and Kashmir during his visit to Palli village in Samba district. The Rattle Hydroelectric Project is one of the projects inaugurated by Mr. Modi on Sunday.
According to reports reaching The Chenab Times, Ratle was already inaugurated twice before, once by former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in 2013 and again by Prime Narendra Modi in 2019. Now, after the abrogation of Article 370, Mr. Modi again inaugurated this project.
In reaction to Ratle’s inauguration for the third time, a senior journalist from Kishtwar district, Asif Iqbal Naik, wrote, “Rattle power project in Kishtwar District holds the record of being inaugurated by the PM of India thrice—first by Manmohan Singh, then by PM Modi just before the 2019 elections, and now today again by PM Modi, despite that the work is yet to start.”
In June 2013, a year before Modi was elected as Prime Minister of India, the then India’s PM, Manmohan Singh, laid the foundation stone of the 850 MW Ratle project. It was the first hydroelectric project that was bid out through tariff-based international competitive bidding and would cost Rs 5,500 crore, Singh said while laying the foundation stone of the project, according to Kashmir Life.
“I hope that every effort will be made to complete the project by its scheduled deadline of February 2018,” he said, adding electricity generated from the Ratle project will bring prosperity to the people of Jammu and Kashmir. But the Congress government lost the polls and PM Modi was elected as Prime Minister.
In February 2019, PM Modi re-inaugurates the Ratle project during his Jammu and Kashmir visit, according to Jammu’s daily Early Times.
Now, in April 2022, PM Modi again re-inaugurates Ratle during his first Jammu and Kashmir visit after the abrogation of Article 370. According to the Deccan Chronicle, the 850MW Ratle hydroelectric project will be constructed on the Chenab river in Kishtwar district at a cost of around Rs 5,300 crore. The 540MW Kwar hydroelectric project will be built in the same district at a cost of over Rs 4,500 crore.
Critics on this re-inauguration says that the numbers of investment is being shown as the Jammu and Kashmir is stepping towards development but these numbers did not became the ground reality till date.
Anzer Ayoob is the Founder and Chief Editor to The Chenab Times