Compensate J

Srinagar, Apr 18 (UNI) Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) has asked the Centre to workout a compensatory mechanism for the huge recurring losses being suffered by Jammu and Kashmir because of the discriminatory Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and arbitrary exploitation of the State's water resources by the National Hydro Power Corporation (NHPC) for power generation.

In a statement issued here today, PDP President Mehbooba Mufti said the negative and almost crippling fallout of the water sharing agreement with Pakistan under IWT, was then acknowledged as the most serious hurdle in the state's economic development.

''The fact that the State has been deprived of its major resource as a result of the Treaty, is now universally accepted,'' she said.

She added that the restrictions on usage of its water resources, was a major area of concern for the state and demandeds adequate compensatory mechanism to tide over their economic distress.

Ms Mufti,MP, said the timid surrender of the state's left-over water resources by the National Conference (NC) government to the NHPC in 2000 against a paltry royalty of 12 per cent electricity, has further complicated their economic despair.

''I don't think any state in the country would barter its resources in such a reckless manner as was done by the NC government,'' she said and added that after the IWT, NC's surrender of the State's water resources to the Center was another worst blow to its economy.

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