Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 18: Cautioning the Government against unaddressed fallout of mega hydel projects on environment, the lives and economic interests of local communities, PDP today said the administration must learn lessons from the outrage caused by the insensitive execution of Kishan Ganga hydel project in Bandipora- Gurez area.
In a statement the party chief spokesperson Naeem Akhtar said the local administration has been unfortunately reduced to a handmaiden of the NHPC and is collaborating with it to deny the rights of the local population.
He said instead of looking into the genuine demands of the local residents and making NHPC to compensate for their losses, the Government was using force against the complainants.
Referring to the colossal impact on environment, ecology and the society of projects like Kishan Ganga, Akhtar said the damage on this front is far more than can be quantified in terms of revenue that is lost to the State as a result of the generation of power without sharing it in an equitable measure with the State. He said the distinct cultural and linguistic identity of the residents of Gurez valley is severely threatened by their dislocation as a result of the construction of dam for the project there.
Akhtar said the demand for adequate compensation for the land acquired for the project is genuine as it has deprived a large number of farmers of their only source of sustenance. The Government instead of using force against the victims should seek better package for effected farmers, he added.
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