Kashmir: Hydro project spotlights livelihood concerns

DW (English)

Residents of a village in India-administered Kashmir complain that they are facing hefty bills and long power cuts despite local politicians promising them free electricity.

Transcript

00:00This is our government's responsibility.

00:03This is our government's responsibility.

00:07Some of us have been here for more than 30 years.

00:11This is our government's responsibility.

00:16If it wasn't for the government, we wouldn't be here.

00:30Coming to ourbottom

00:32Coming to ourbottom

00:34Speaking ourchestroduction

00:36Speaking ourchestrproduction

00:52Power is what we need and the power bank is what we can't pay.

00:57If we don't do anything about it, how will we feed our children?

01:02If we don't do anything about it, how will we feed our children?

01:14The source, Dudh Ganga, its course has been changed,

01:18and that water, it flows through a meadow, that meadow was dug out,

01:22then there were huge pipelines were laid,

01:24so it has caused a lot of disaster,

01:28and in addition to that, hundreds of trees were axed in that area.

01:34So, I don't think it has been very much beneficial to people.

01:45Actually, it didn't have much effect on ecology.

01:48Ecology, we have done it in such a way that,

01:52where we felt that soil erosion is taking place,

01:58or some wildlife is being disturbed,

02:01we have installed our fencing from that side,

02:05and we have done some concreting from there,

02:08from where we feel that it can be damaged.

02:11We have provided protection walls from that side,

02:14we have provided local employment,

02:18there are a lot of people here,

02:20the people here, the STSC, we have given them a lot of support,

02:24they have got a lot of jobs here.

02:28It generated employment when the project was being constructed,

02:32some employment, that time,

02:35but from last 10 years, it is only giving employment to 10 or 15 people.

02:41So, I don't think that is sufficient,

02:45and the kind of environmental disaster that has happened there,

02:49you cannot compensate.

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