On Tuesday, September 15, 2026, the Chief Ministers of six states and the Union Territory of Delhi signed an agreement to implement the 422‑MW Kishau multipurpose project, a joint venture involving Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi.
The project will be built on the Tons River along the Uttarakhand‑Himachal Pradesh border. It will feature a 232.6‑metre high concrete gravity dam with a storage capacity of 1,562 million cubic metres. The scheme is expected to irrigate 97,000 hectares and generate 1,476 million units of clean hydropower. The estimated cost is ₹15,624 crore, with the central government covering about 90% and the states and the UT contributing the remaining 10% in line with the 1994 agreement.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah called the agreement historic and noted that it resolves the tenth water dispute since Narendra Modi became prime minister. He added that Delhi would be the largest beneficiary. Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu said the project had broken an eight‑year deadlock over the financial burden. He highlighted that the previous BJP government had offered a ₹800 crore state share, which his administration declined due to limited resources.
Sukhu emphasized that Himachal would bear the greatest loss from displacement and therefore should not shoulder an additional financial burden. He noted that the state would receive 1,000 million units of power per year, translating to more than ₹1,000 crore after construction, which he described as a major victory for the state’s fight to secure its rightful share in national power projects.
