After illegal occupation of a portion of J&K State in October 1947, now known to us as Pakistan occupied Kashmir (PoK) Pakistan changed the name of the river Kishanganga and now call it Neelam. In the works of ancient Kashmirian historians and geographers, Kishanganga’s origin is the heights of Mount Kailash. Rivers in India have, by and large, carried with them great mythological stories and the tradition of their sanctity has passed on from generation to generation. Originally the name given to the river was Kanchan Ganga in which Kanchan in Sanskrit means gold.
River Kishanganga flows partly in our part of Kashmir, via District of Bandipore and partly in PoK. The importance of this river is great to the Hindus of Kashmir, who, according to their ancient history, believe that river Saraswati rising from the mountains joined Kishanganga at Sharadi. The site came to be known as Sharada of great historical name as a famous university was established here where scholars of Hindu religion and tradition assembled and stayed for many centuries.
In modern times, the utility of Kishanganga to us is more in economic than in mythological terms because the river is mostly under the control of PoK administration. In 2007, State Government finalized a plan of deriving hydroelectric power from the waters of the river by raising a dam and then allowing the used water to flow back to Kishanganga. The project has the capacity of producing 330 MW of electricity at a cost of Rs. Rs 3642 crore with power station at Bandipore. Most of the work of filling the dam with concrete on the bed of the river and tunneling of the mountains that will carry the water for generating power and then flow back into the river is reported to be complete. The project was supposed to be commissioned in November 2016. If disturbances had not happened during last two months and half in Kashmir, the project would have been inaugurated on time.
As ill luck would have it, owing to ongoing turmoil in the valley since July 8, progress in the work of the power house has been arrested with very disastrous impact on the completion of the project in time. Workers and engineers have left the site owing to uncertain conditions. This is a snow bound area and actual work is done only during the summer months. From November onwards till the end of March, the area is under heavy snow and no work is done. It means that just one month is left during which work can be done provided the conditions in the valley improve and labourers and engineers return to work. But the situation in the valley is uncertain and nobody can predict whether these will improve in next few days.
The project was delayed for nearly two years previously as well. When the work on the project began, Pakistan raised objections that India was violating the Indus Treaty Clauses by constructing a dam on the waters of Kishanganga River. Despite assurances that India did not violate any clause Pakistan stuck to its stand and knocked the door of the International Court at The Hague. The court sent a team of experts to visit the spot and report back. Finally on the basis of the report of the team, the International Court of Arbitration announced its judgment in 2013 which said that India was not violating the Indus Waters Treaty and could go ahead with the project. This litigation wasted nearly two years. Now that hurdle is overcome and at the final stage the unrest in the valley has adversely affected the project. This is not the only project that is adversely affected. However, we hope the good sense will prevail over the leaders in Kashmir who give calls for strikes and anti-Government demonstrations will realize what harm they are doing to the people of Kashmir. It is unfortunate that a situation has arisen in which massed of people are put to great suffering and adversity. It should come to an end as early as possible.
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