On October 6, a CPI(ML) Liberation delegation visited Kwanau village in the Jaunsar region of Dehradun district, which falls in the submergence zone of the proposed Kishau Dam, and expressed solidarity with villagers resisting the submergence and displacement of their village.
The villagers said they had raised their concerns with officials of the Uttarakhand Jal Vidyut Nigam well before the process began, and the officials had assured them of positive action. However, the process of constructing the dam was suddenly initiated and their suggestions and concerns were ignored. The villagers said they have highly fertile agricultural land, with maize and tomato produce reaching markets in Delhi. They said this fertile land and their livelihoods are now being prepared for submergence in the name of the dam, but the villagers will not allow this under any circumstances.
CPI(ML) Garhwal Secretary and convenor of the Joshimath Bachao Sangharsh Samiti, Comrade Atul Sati, expressed solidarity with the villagers of Kwanau on behalf of the people who have been fighting in Joshimath. He said that people in the Joshimath region have been fighting against hydropower projects and the devastation caused by them for more than two decades. Having experienced and understood the destruction and suffering caused by such projects, they have come to stand alongside the people of Kwanau in their struggle. He said the struggle against the submergence of jal, jungle and zameen and other resources, and against the displacement of people, is a shared struggle of all.
CPI(ML) State Secretary Indresh Maikhuri said the development model that displaces and submerges people in the name of development is a model of development for corporates and big contractors, whose beneficiaries are those in power. He said this model is destructive for nature, the environment and ecology. Maikhuri pointed out that the state Energy Secretary himself has acknowledged that Uttarakhand has neither land to resettle people nor land for compensatory afforestation. Despite this, the Uttarakhand Chief Minister agreed to the project under pressure from the Union Home Minister.
He said this is the impact of the double-engine government that the people of Kwanau and other villages across Uttarakhand facing submergence and displacement will have to bear.
