Destructive Monsoons and Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project The residents of ‘Mohalla Kadal’, a village prone to land erosion caused by the Makdi Intakeware wall built with the funding, are witnessing the gradual destruction of their dream homes.
Administered by Pakistan Kashmir In Chehla Bandi, located in the capital of Muzaffarabad, five houses of Mahalla Kadal, consisting of hundreds of families, are close to the riverbed. These houses have been evacuated by the administration while more than 100 other houses are currently under threat.
One of the five houses to be evacuated on the opposite side of the Makadi Water Treatment Plant intake is that of Parveen Bibi.
Parveen Bibi told Independent Urdu that ‘Landslides started here due to land erosion in the last Ramadan, which first destroyed our lands and now reached our homes, in which landslides are happening daily. And it is getting damaged daily.
‘From the spring at this place to where our land ends we have lost. We have this little place left where we have built houses on loans. We have invested millions, crores here. Government people come here temporarily, offer consolation and go back.’
Faiz Rafiq, a resident of one of the affected houses, told Independent Urdu that the construction of the intake ware was started in Ramadan. We have made several requests to the concerned authorities. By going to the department itself, they have been told that first you should secure the populated area. Their plan drawings show the side wall they knew had to be built.’
Faiz told Muzzi that ‘Monsoon During the rains, the department evacuated our five houses. The compensation for these houses has been estimated as of 2017. Now when these houses fall, we have to prepare these houses in 2024. We have not been compensated in any way, nor is anyone cooperating with us.’
Regarding this whole matter, Imran Mukhtar, Axion of the concerned Department of Public Health, told Independent Urdu that ‘This was our project. In which walls were to be built on both sides of Makadi Water Treatment Plant intake. We started working on the left wing and diverted all the water to the right wing.
“Our left wing work has been completed structure wise, following which we have started work on Mohalla Kadalwali side i.e. right wing. We started the work on this project in 2021 and already in the first year we completed 70% of the project, but in 2022 due to the tunneling of the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project, the full discharge of water will come into the river. started, due to which we might not complete the work.’
He said that ‘when the work was started last year, we were first delayed in getting funds from the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project. Then when the work was started, the land assessment of local people of Mohalla Kadal also took time. Our plan was to complete this work in this season but due to repeated malfunctions in the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project tunnel, then the full water of the river was released into the river. It was not possible to work like this.’
Continuing, he said that ‘following the project was reactivated, we worked quickly and constructed a 12-meter section of the wall, but before we might proceed further, a landslide started. We continued to work on this too, but on 30 March 2024, the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project once more communicated that the project was being shut down due to a fault in the tunnel and the entire water was being released into the river.
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‘The disadvantage of the river coming into full flow for the third time was that the intake ware wall was formed on the other side, due to which the river diverted towards Mohalla Kadal and the sliding started once more. In this way, the houses of these people were hit.
He said: ‘People’s concerns are legitimate and people there have cooperated with us. We have the compensation money of the people and the land acquisition work of the Finance Department is going on. As soon as the finance department completes its work, we will immediately pay the compensation to these people.’
Public Health Commissioner Imran Mukhtar said that the question that first the wall was built on this side and then the intake was built is not feasible. Intakeware is built down on the other side. It was not technically possible for the foundation of the side wall to settle down four and a half meters from that side to construct the intake ware if that wall was built earlier, which led to the construction of the earlier intake ware. It was technically necessary to do.’
In how much time will the Department of Finance complete the process of payment of land compensation to the people of Mohalla Kadal?
On this question of Independent Urdu, Deputy Commissioner Muzaffarabad Nadeem Janjua said that the landslide happening there is an act of God. A sudden failure of the Neelum Jhelum Hydropower Project led to a landslide there at the full flow of the river. Now the government has issued notification 4 under the Land Acquisition Act, which has a period of one year, that means within one year we will acquire the land.
Now the assessment process is going on under which the land is estimated by the revenue department. The estimate of the trees on the site will be done by the Forest Department and the estimate of the buildings will be done by the Construction Department. Hopefully, this whole process will be done soon and we will pay the compensation to the victims there soon.’
According to Deputy Commissioner Muzaffarabad, the five houses that have been vacated have been taken to rented houses for their residents, whose rent is being paid by the respective contractor.
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2024-07-13 03:49:04