By Jehangir Ali
Srinagar: A Bhartiya Janta Party legislator has alleged that the Telangana-based Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL) was working like the ‘East India Company’ while executing the Rs 5,281-crore Ratle power project in Kishtwar that has been marred by protests by locals and workers’ strikes.
The allegation comes days after the construction giant was blamed by Jammu and Kashmir government for posing a “grave threat” to the environment with its “unscientific manner of blasting, drilling, muck disposal and movement of vehicles” which has caused “irreversible damage” to the “flora-fauna and ecosystem” of the eco-fragile region.
Residents living in the vicinity of the 850 MW hydropower project, which is expected to be commissioned by May 2026, have accused MEIL of violating the conditions laid down in the contract which has allegedly caused physical damages to their properties such as houses and shops while the unscientific blasting and dumping of waste has also resulted in a spike in respiratory and other diseases.
‘Have they built any park or hospital?’
In a video which has been shared on social media, Shagun Parihar, the newly elected member of legislative assembly from Kishtwar, can be heard telling a group of aggrieved locals in Drabshalla village of Kishtwar during an evening protest last week that the MEIL has allegedly failed to carry out developmental works and even the locals have not been employed in the project as part of the contract.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
