India's Exploitation of Water Resources Hurting Indian Occupied Kashmir's Economy

[Omar1984]

Exploitation of Water Resources Hurting Kashmir Economy

By Fayaz Wani


Srinagar, Feb 15: Senior pro-Indian Kashmiri leader and former chief minister of Kashmir, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Sunday said that the unfair exploitation of Kashmir's water resources is hurting its economy.

"The Kashmir's natural and water resources need to be freed from the current exploitative arrangement that has spelled doom to its economy reducing it to a begging bowl," Mufti said.

He said the leadership of Kashmir must bring into focus the unfair treatment that is being meted out to on the economic front. "The unqualified surrender of Kashmir's water resources is an instance of total insensitivity towards its people.

"It is a pity that while the rest of India enjoys electricity generated from our water resources, we are forced to live in darkness," he said and added that the severe winter conditions in Kashmir and Ladakh and blistering summer heat in Jammu makes life a hell in absence of electricity which is now a basic requirement of common man.

Referring to the Indus Water Treaty signed by India and Pakistan in the 1960s, the former chief minister of Kashmir said, "The political leadership should, with fresh resolve, bring into focus the unfair treatment that has been meted out to us as a result of the discriminatory Indus Water Treaty (IWT) and the arbitrary exploitation of our water resources by India. A joint struggle must be launched by the people in all the regions of Kashmir to seek adequate compensatory and remedial measures".

Fayaz Wani reports on life in Srinagar, Kashmir.

Exploitation of Water Resources Hurting Kashmir Economy

 

[roopesh]

Exploitation of Water Resources Hurting Kashmir Economy

"The Kashmir's natural and water resources need to be freed from the current exploitative arrangement that has spelled doom to its economy reducing it to a begging bowl," Mufti said.

Exploitation of Water Resources Hurting Kashmir Economy

Where is the exploitation? Only pakistan can claim like this....How much of Pakistan occupaid Kashmir is developing?

 

[metalfalcon]

Where is the exploitation? Only pakistan can claim like this....How much of Pakistan occupaid Kashmir is developing?

More than Yours Occupied Kashmir. For Your Kind Information there is no Occupied Kashmir in Pakistan its AZAD KASHMIR, With their own AZAD Govt and Development is going on there Even after the devastating Earthquake in 2005.

If you don't know what is Happening in Azad Kashmir it doesn't mean that there is nothing Happening here. People are free to Vote here and No one Boycotts the Elections and People Here are Azad and they don't come out on Roads Demanding Azadi (as in your Case).

 

[koolio]

More than Yours Occupied Kashmir. For Your Kind Information there is no Occupied Kashmir in Pakistan its AZAD KASHMIR, With their own AZAD Govt and Development is going on there Even after the devastating Earthquake in 2005.

If you don't know what is Happening in Azad Kashmir it doesn't mean that there is nothing Happening here. People are free to Vote here and No one Boycotts the Elections and People Here are Azad and they don't come out on Roads Demanding Azadi (as in your Case).

Totally agree with you these Indians think they know everything from A to Z I have been to kashmir myself the development has much improved compared to the last time I visited there.

 

[SurvivoR]

Ill-advised’ Baglihar execution wreaks havoc

* Power project on Chenab unsafe, 35-kilometre Batote-Doda road stretch under threat, sinking in many places

By Iftikhar Gilani

NEW DELHI: For over a week, 600,000 people of Doda and Kishtwar districts have been cut off from the rest of the world following a massive landslide that hit the area near Assar, 35 kilometres from Baglihar.
Engineers have declared the road ‘irreparable’ and said it would take at least 45 days to reconnect the two districts with the outside world.

Brig AK Butany, the chief engineer of Indian army’s Beacon Project said the road was irreparable as the earth in the area consisted of loose soil with no rock formation.

The Beacon officials have asked the government to engage the Geological Survey of India (GSI) to ascertain the safety of the Batote-Kishtwar Highway due to the rising water levels in the River Chenab.

“Though the landslides are not new phenomena in the areas their frequency in past years has increased prompting us to take up the matter with the government. We can’t rule out the possibility of the road becoming more vulnerable in future. Survey needs to be carried out to identify possible threat areas,” a top Beacon official said.

The opposition Bharatiya Janata Party has demanded a probe by a Supreme Court judge to “fix the responsibility for the ‘ill-advised’ execution of the Baglihar power project”.

The party’s state General Secretary Bali Bhagat said the Rs 60 billion project was a man-made disaster, executed without taking into account factors like geology and environment.

Demanding a white paper on the project, he said the project had endangered the lives of millions of people.

Congress parliamentarian Lal Singh told Daily Times that an acute scarcity of essential commodities had hit the area. He said the project had played havoc with the lives of the people in the region, adding that the sinking of the road between Batote-Doda areas was “just a warning” and described it as a “beginning of a major catastrophe”.

Indian-held Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah asked the authorities to transport essential supplies from the site of the dam at Chanderkote to Pul Doda by boats.

Initially, people believed that road at Assar was blocked due to a landslide. But they were shocked to learn later that River Chenab had started eating up nearby hills and the catchments area.

Local politicians asked Baglihar authorities to regulate the pressure in the dam to ease out tensions on the banks.

Power project: Meanwhile, the government-owned Power Development Corporation (PDC) has begun a survey to identify families facing the threat of submergence.

“The entire stretch of the Batote-Doda road, which is nearly 35 kilometres, is under threat as it has started sinking in at many places.

The government should construct a tunnel on the Basholi-Bhaderwah road so that it becomes trafficable. It should also open the Sithan-Antanag road, which connects the twin districts with Kashmir Valley for the traffic,” Samajwadi Party President Sheikh Abdul Rehman said.

Last year a group of geologists had warned the government about the safety of the project. They had said the fault lay in “part of the Murree Thrust that runs from Pakistan up to Himachal Pradesh through the project area”. They said rocks in the area were displaced constantly causing new cracks to develop in the areas of the fault.

However, engineers, associated with the Baglihar project, said the fault lay about five kilometres away from the dam site.

Daily Times - Leading News Resource of Pakistan

 

[UnitedPak]

Where is the exploitation? Only pakistan can claim like this....How much of Pakistan occupaid Kashmir is developing?

This is one of your typical counter attacks, immediately attacking Pakistan without given any thought to the original article.

India in its haste with developing its water projects is ruining relations with neighbouring countries and also the Kashmiris. The electricity production will come at the expense of their neighbours and put them in direct danger due to Indias poor track record as well.

This will end badly for India.

 

[Omar1984]

Where is the exploitation? Only pakistan can claim like this....How much of Pakistan occupaid Kashmir is developing?

Can't you read? A pro-Indian Kashmiri leader has said this, not a Pakistani.

If you want to see whats happening in Pakistan's Azad Kashmir, read this
http://www.defence.pk/forums/econom...e-urban-development-project-azad-kashmir.html