This is the third article in a four-part reportage series from Kishtwar in Jammu and Kashmir. You can read the first and second articles here and here. The final article will follow. Drabshalla (Kishtwar): Every day, when Mohammad Abban (8) returns from school, his mother, Nazia Akhtar, a housewife, confines him to the four walls of their double-storied home in Drabshalla town of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kishtwar district.At a walking distance from their house, one of the biggest playgrounds in this mountainous village has turned into a potential killing field, thanks to the government’s Ratle power project which has picked pace in recent months.Residents say they wake up to the sounds of explosions, which often take place allegedly without warning, and shards of stones rain down on their rooftops, scaring the villagers out of their wits, especially children and the elderly.“Mother tells me that it is not safe to go out, so I play inside the home. But it is not as good as playing with friends in the ground. There is no fun and excitement,” Abban said with a smile.Hundreds of construction workers guided by engineers who are armed with hi-tech gadgets, mountain-cutting machinery, and heavy load carriers are fighting deadlines and climate change to finish the construction of the run-of-the-river Ratle hydropower project.Set to be commissioned in 2026, the Rs 3,300 crore project is a joint venture with the J&K administration in which the Union government is a majority stakeholder. Over 427 hectares of land has been taken over for the project of which 373 is forest land, including 75 hectare river bed, while 16 hectares is private land.Construction activity is in full swing at Drabshalla for building the Ratle power plant. Access roads have already been completed and tunnels are being constructed. Photo: Jehangir Ali.The prestigious project, which is part of several hydropower projects coming up on the Chenab river, is located in Seismic Zone IV of the central crystalline belt in the Great Himalayas, which has been subject to “intense tectonic deformation,” according to an official study.A 2012 study by the University of Jammu shows that the project was going to affect 46 families comprising 285 persons in Kandini village, which falls in the submergence zone, and 16 families comprising over 100 persons in Drabshalla, which will host the dam and the power project.Also read: Are Kashmir’s New Hydro-Electric Projects Economically Viable?The project, approved by the Omar Abdullah government in 2012, missed multiple deadlines due to poor execution and lack of finances, spiking the number of project-affected persons (PAFs) over the years.In 2020, the Union government gave a fresh go-ahead for the project.Located upstream of the 450MW Baghlihar project and downstream of the 390MW Dulhasti project in Kishtwar, the Ratle project envisions the construction of two, 11-metre circular diversion tunnels, one of which was completed last year, and four, 6.6 metre pressure shaft tunnels, along with a 133-metre concrete dam, reservoir, underground powerhouse, and access roads.According to officials, the 850 MW project is expected to generate 3,136 million units of electricity a year, 84% of which will be sold as merchant power while Jammu and Kashmir will get only 16% free power, as per the agreement signed by the GoI-owned National Hydel Power Company and J&K’s State Power Development Corporation.Under the Indus Water Treaty, the World Bank and a Court of Arbitration are adjudicating the dispute over the construction of the power project in the heart of J&K’s Chenab Valley after Pakistan raised objections.The project is perhaps the first of its kind which is being steamrolled by the government even as the Relief and Rehabilitation Programme for the affected households has not yet been approved, sources said.There are allegations of irregularities by the contractor. A video captured by locals recently showed heavy trucks dumping the material excavated from the project site into the Chenab river, in clear violation of the terms of the contract.“This will destroy the river ecosystem and change the flow (of the river),” G.M. Bhat, a senior geologist who has extensively studied the Himalayan region, told The Wire.The Hyderabad-based company, Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited, which is executing the project could not be reached for comment.One of the under-construction tunnels of the project was damaged in a recent flood triggered by heavy rains across Jammu and Kashmir, according to a report, which could delay the commissioning of the project.A small community living atop a hill flanked by the Chenab river, where the construction work is underway, have been left out of the rehabilitation programme. The community is separated from the main Drabshalla town by the Doda-Kishtwar highway and the construction activity has spawned endless miseries and a pervasive fear of destruction and death.A group of workers employed at the Ratle power project stand in a queue outside an ATM in Drabshalla town of Kishtwar. Photo: Jehangir Ali.As heavy explosives are being used to dig tunnels for the power project, several houses in Drabshalla have developed cracks, making them unsafe. Due to heavy blasting, shards of stones are propelled into the air.Chenab Valley sits in the seismically active Himalayan region. Kishtwar district is located in a region of high-risk seismic activity with more than a dozen tremors originating from Chenab Valley this year alone.While the region has not witnessed any major seismic activity – the last major earthquake in Jammu and Kashmir was reported in 2005 – the blasting activity increases the chances of rockslides and decreases the mountain’s stability, making the village prone to more natural disasters.Last year, four people died and six were injured when a landslide struck the power project.According to locals, the earth shakes and stones rain down on their houses when explosions are carried out, giving them restless days and sleepless nights. While the playground remains largely out of bounds for the children, the streets wear deserted looks and the shops are covered under a layer of dust blown into the air by the blasting and other construction activities.“There is the issue of pollution caused by dust which will be addressed very soon,” deputy commissioner of Kishtwar Devansh Yadav, admitted to The Wire, denying that the construction activity was impacting the residential houses in the area.The DC said that the project has generated employment opportunities for the locals, “230 persons out of 250, whose land was acquired for building the project, have been provided employment and more jobs are going to open as the construction gathers steam.”However, local residents, whose houses have developed cracks allegedly due to the explosions, blame the administration for turning a blind eye to their concerns.“On most days, we wake up in terror due to the impact of the blasts. In the initial days, the blasting was carried out in the evenings. A siren used to blow before the explosions. But there is no schedule or warning now. It can happen at anytime,” said Jyoti Parihar, mother of two minor children aged eight and six.“Sometimes there are explosions during the daytime also. Stones fly in the air and some of them rain down on our homes too. I had a narrow escape myself recently,” claimed Nazia Akhtar, Abban’s mother.The DC said that the administration has installed seismometers in Drabshalla and adjoining areas “to ensure that the blasting activity doesn’t exceed the threshold” which causes damage to concrete structures.“Residents might have some grievances but the administration is committed to ensure that they are taken care of,” he said.However, many local residents are not content with official assurances. “The mechanism of seismometers will protect only concrete buildings. What about those buildings which are not made of concrete? My house is on the verge of collapsing but instead of listening to our genuine grievances, we are being threatened with police cases,” Abdul Haq Mattoo, a resident of Drabshalla, said.
