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| Anti-NHPC campaign in Kashmir | | Congress & Geelani | | Rustam
Jammu, July 18: The National Conference (NC)-led Jammu & Kashmir Government has been urging the Government of India to handover the National Hydel Power Corporation (NHPC)-managed and controlled power projects in Jammu & Kashmir to the State Government for quite sometime now. A senior Congress Minister in the Omar Abdullah-led coalition Government has taken up this issue in a big way. He is spearheading the movement on behalf of the State Government. The NHPC is being described as a symbol of New Delhi in the State that enjoys a very special status. It is also being equated with the British East India Company, which remained active in India and exploited the Indian natural resources to the hilt from 1600 to 1858. It is being described as "new East India Company". It was the British East India Company that became instrumental in the slavery of India and emergence of British rule in this country. London ruled India directly from 1858 onwards.
The manner in which this Congress Minister has been spearheading the movement has only created an impression as if Kashmir is being ruled by an alien power, which is also usurping the State's natural resources, including water. He is not the only one who has been taking on New Delhi and dismissing the NHPC as a "cheat and dishonest organization". His hands are also being strengthened by the so-called Kashmiri civil society, Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Kashmir, and Kashmir Economic Alliance (KEA), a conglomerate of trade, transport and hotel associations, all Kashmir-based. It has been founded for putting pressure on New Delhi so that it transfers all the NPHC-run power projects to the State Government.
The Kashmiri Civil Society, Kashmir Chamber of Commerce and Industry and the KEA have made the whole issue Kashmir-centric, thus creating an impression that the Chenab river and other rivers of Jammu Pradesh are the sole preserve of Kashmir and that people of this province have no say whatever as far as the natural resources of their province are concerned. (Natural resources are national property with the States also important stakeholders.) This, notwithstanding the fact that the people of Jammu Pradesh have a very superior claim over the NHPC-run and controlled hydel projects like Salal and Dul Hasti, as these power projects are based on the Chenab waters, which originate and flow through this province. It is the people of Jammu Pradesh who have been suffering more because of the scheduled and unscheduled power-cuts, as compared to Kashmir, where power is available almost round the clock. Besides, it is the people of Jammu Pradesh who have been paying power tariff to the tune of nearly 70 per cent, as compared to Kashmir. Kashmir pays power tariff only to the tune of 30 per cent. Just look at the official statistics and you will find the truth.
The vilification campaign unleashed by the Congress Minister has had its impact on the already rather anti-India forces in Kashmir. Take, for example, what the Hurriyat Conference (Geelani) has been saying after the said Congress Minister contemptuously dismissed the NHPC as "cheat and dishonest organization" and the State Government decided to sign another memorandum of understanding with the same organization for setting up a joint multi-crore vocational training institute at Kangan, Ganderbal district, saying the proposed institute, when set up, will "help impart training to locals so that could be employed in various power projects of the State". On June 23, Hurriyat Conference (G) said: "The occupation (of Kashmir by India) has resulted in the exploitation of our water resources, which could generate electricity sufficient for not just trade, but for free power supply to consumers in the State. The mainstream politicians are facilitating exploitation of our resources". Earlier, a so-called mainstream and Kashmir-based organizations had charged the State Government with "gifting 10 most feasible power projects to the NHPC", saying it did so for "their lust for power". The Congress Minister and separatists, besides other political parties, based in Kashmir, continue to speak against NHPC and demand the State control over the NHPC-controlled and managed hydel projects.
The issue here is not power shortage. The issue here is the hostile attitude of the Congress Minister towards the NHPC and New Delhi and the language he has been using against them. It is this that makes one conclude that the Congress and the Hurriyat leaders are on the same page as far as their attitude towards India is concerned. Jammu & Kashmir is an integral part of India like all other States of the Union and, hence, any Central agency has every right to operate in any part of the country. It is noteworthy that the people of Jammu Pradesh have held themselves aloof from the anti-NHPC tirade and again demonstrated their unflinching faith in things Indian. At the same time, it is shocking that not a single Jammu-based Congress Minister or Congress leader has thought it desirable to rein in the erring Congress Minister. Indeed, things in the State are assuming alarming proportions. |
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