UPON the commissioning of the hydel generation project in April in district Muzaffarabad (Azad Jammu & Kashmir), over the run of the rivers Neelum and Jhelum, a huge section of downstream Nosheri village up to Muzaffarabad city has dried up. Concurrently, the River Jhelum will also be squeezed once diverted very soon.

This has serious ramifications on the local environment, ecology, tourism, etc. No EPA-compliance debate has been initiated by the AJK government. There is no agreement between stakeholders such as Wapda and the AJK government to regulate business and ensure compliance to the rules, and therefore each party is blaming the other.

The population is dismayed over the apathy of the leadership, with civil society holding a peaceful gathering on the matter recently in Muzaffarabad. The AJK government has serious capacity and expertise issues, and it may not be possible to handle a project of this magnitude locally. National institutions must be involved, as they were over the Kohala-Muzaffarabad road network and the Nalochi Bridge. The political and bureaucratic administration of AJK is urged to wake up before it is too late.

Iftikhar Ahmed Mir

Rawalpindi

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2018