New Delhi, September 16, 2026 (Yes Punjab News)
BJP MP Anurag Thakur has credited the Centre’s efforts for the breakthrough in the long-pending Kishau Multipurpose Project and questioned why successive Congress governments had failed to resolve the issue over several decades.
His remarks came a day after the Chief Ministers of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan and Delhi signed an agreement on September 15 to take forward the 422 MW project. The agreement was signed in the presence of Union Home Minister Amit Shah and Union Jal Shakti Minister C.R. Patil.
Thakur said the project had remained unresolved for decades despite governments at both the Centre and state levels, and credited the Modi government with bringing the participating states together to reach consensus.
“This was a six-decade-old problem,” Thakur said, adding that meetings involving the Centre and the six states had helped resolve the issue.
He said the agreement would help address long-term water and power requirements while serving as an example of cooperative federalism and coordination between governments.
Thakur also questioned the Himachal Pradesh government’s claims of credit, pointing to the Centre’s financial contribution. Under the agreement, the Kishau project has been declared a National Project, with the Government of India expected to bear around 90 per cent of the financial burden and the participating states sharing the remaining 10 per cent.
“If the Himachal Chief Minister wants to take credit, he should explain why Congress governments could not resolve this issue in the past 50-60 years,” Thakur said.
The Kishau project envisages a 232.6-metre-high concrete gravity dam on the Tons River along the Himachal Pradesh-Uttarakhand border, with a storage capacity of 1,562 million cubic metres. It is expected to irrigate around 97,000 hectares and generate 1,476 million units of clean hydropower.
The project agreement will now pave the way for the proposal to be placed before the Union Cabinet for approval before implementation can proceed.
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