Srinagar: A private contractor wilfully damaged a protected forest corridor in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir without government clearances to pave the way for a road to ferry construction material for a Rs 384 crore-power transmission line, The Wire has learnt.Sources said that heavy machinery rumbled into the forest zone in Shakti Nagar area of Kishtwar earlier this week, allegedly under the eyes of unknown forest department officials, to clear the way for building a nearly one-km road to a hilly area where two transmission towers are proposed to be constructed. Dozens of photos and videos, independently verified by The Wire, show that the bulldozer machines have created deep gashes on the forest landscape at many places with the extracted mixture of soil and stones dumped recklessly by the contractor on the forest demarcation fences erected by the government.Forrest corridor damaged in Kishtwar. Photo: Imran Shah.An official in Kishtwar said that the road would allow the contractor to directly ferry the construction material for the two towers, which are part of the 400 kV transmission line in the Chenab valley being constructed by Sterlite Power. A forest department official posted in the area said that he tried to raise the issue with his seniors, “But I was asked to keep quiet,” he said, wishing to stay anonymous. In 2022, Sterlite acquired Kishtwar Power Limited – a special purpose vehicle of the National Hydro Power Project-led Chenab Valley Power Project Limited (CVPPL) – under which the company is erecting dozens of towers along a 37-km stretch of land in the hilly district.CVPPL is a joint venture of the NHPC (51%) and Jammu and Kashmir State Power Development Corporation (49%).The transmission line connects 1000 MW Pakal Dul, 624 MW Kiru power project and 540 MW Kwar power project with a sub station in Trigam area of Kishtwar for onward supply to the grids in parts of north India. The work on the project started last year on May 27 last year after approval from the Union power ministry and Western Air Command of the Indian Air Force. Forrest corridor damaged in Kishtwar. Photo: Imran Shah.A source in the forest department said: “It has been seen that the officials involved in preparing the detailed project reports for power transmission lines only factor in the tract of land for acquisition which falls under the corridor of transmission towers without assessing the feasibility of how the construction material is going to reach the sites”. Forest lands are strictly regulated under J&K and national laws to prevent environmental degradation and deforestation, and the diversion of land for non-forest purposes requires prior approval from the Union government. Admitting the damage done to the forest, divisional forest officer (Kishtwar) Mahesh Thakur told The Wire that an ‘IR case’ has been registered and a departmental inquiry has been initiated. He however didn’t provide details of the case and the losses caused by the landscaping activities along the one-km unpaved road to the forest.“The government has granted clearance for constructing the transmission line but there is no provision for building roads and that too through a protected forest. The concerned field staff has been asked to show cause and their salaries have been withheld,” Thakur said. It is a case of irregularity where a deviation is found to have occurred from prescribed procedural rules or technical formalities in a project sanctioned by the government. Official sources told The Wire that some components of the transmission line project were sub-contracted to Transrail, a Mumbai-based group which describes itself on its website as a “leading turnkey engineering, procurement and construction company with primary focus on power transmission and distribution”. Sources said that the company was expected to hire locals and their mules for carrying the construction material which would have also generated a significant number of employment days in the far-flung areas of Kishtwar, one of J&K’s poorest and least developed districts. “The company apparently hired a local contractor from Doda to ferry construction material like sand and cement to the site. To cut the costs, the contractor appears to have greased the palms of officials who turned a blind eye to the wanton plunder,” alleged a local of Kishtwar, wishing to remain anonymous.Forrest corridor damaged in Kishtwar. Photo: Imran Shah.He added: “The plan to construct the road has not only damaged the forest but it has also deprived locals of livelihood”. According to reports, more than 100 towers are proposed to be constructed along the 37-km transmission line of which two towers are being built on the forest land in Shakti Nagar area. “If the contractor had acquired land from locals for the road, he was bound to pay them a hefty amount. Instead, he seems to have found the forest land an easy option. I would be surprised if the forest department was not aware of this plunder which was carried out using heavy machinery,” Imran Ahmad, a local from Kishtwar said.Deputy commissioner Kishtwar Pankaj Kumar Sharma said that he will “look into the matter”. The Wire has reached out to senior superintendent of Kishtwar police, Sterlite Power and Transrail for comment. This story would be updated as and when a response is received. Imran Shah contributed to reporting.