Title - The Rail Factor

The ambitious Banihal-Qazigund tunnel, which is part of the 342-km-long Jammu - Baramulla railway line has changed the economic landscape on either sides of Jawahar Tunnel in southern Kashmir. But the boom in economy can permanently alter the ecological landscape as well as the biodiversity of the area, Arifa Gani finds out.Mohammad Isaac, 35, is a happy man these days. Sporting a bright yellow workers’ safety helmet, an orange-color jacket worn over a tattered, dust-clad, traditional kameez-pajama, and carrying a rugged look on his face, Isaac warily looks towards an engineer for directions near Pir Panchal Tunnel in south Kashmir’s Qazigund. There is not much to do, for now. He turns towards me.“Not only will this tunnel bring the people closer who have been geographically divided by Pir Panchal Mountains, it has also brought employment opportunities for many of us. I used to go to far-off areas to search for employment. But for many months now, I have been working with on this project in my own area,” Isaac says, jubilantly.Isaac’s story is not an exception in this south Kashmir’s Qazigund - Banihal belt which have become a focus of attention after the work on the ambitious Rs 3•9 billion Banihal-Qazigund rail project by the government of India started in 2003. The project which was awarded to the construction giant, Hindustan Construction Company (HCC), is gradually pushing the once-backward areas lying on either sides of Jawahar Tunnel towards the brink of modernization.With the arrival of monstrous machinery which is being used to cut through the heart of Pir Panchal Mountains to make a tunnel for laying rail tracks, came new roads, jobs and business opportunities; a welcome change for the area which was never on the government’s radar for development.However, the boom in construction is depriving these places of the scenic beauty of nature which will gradually alter the ecology. For example, considerable land has been lost to construction in Banihal area which earlier had lush green meadows and rich vegetation. This has dealt a huge blow to the biodiversity and landscape of the area.Says Shabir Ahmad Khan, a resident of Nowgam area of Banihal, “Most of the people lost their agricultural land to the railway construction and people who had earlier 4-5 kanals of land are just left with few marlas. Loss of agricultural land is not the only cost paid by the people. The water that seeps from the tunnel enters directly into Nalah Bislari, which caters to the water needs of the people. This has resulted in the death of a variety of fish for which this stream was once famous. In fact, the water has turned grayish with huge deposits of chemicals at its base.”“For the last 4-5 years, the toxic water has made its way into Nalah Bislari. It is only now that the harm done to the stream has grabbed attention of the construction agency. This project has, however, managed to bring in jobs for the locals who have been employed in the construction work alongside the skilled and unskilled labor force from outside the state,” says Nisar Ahmad, a driver, who works with HCC.The construction boom also led to the displacement of people, mostly farmers, whose land was bought by the government to make way for the railway network. The dry and wet land owned by the residents was brought at ‘reasonable’ rates. However, the government has not offered help to the residents in buying new farmable land in the adjoining areas.“Since the government was taking away our land, we believed that we would be paid sufficient compensation which will help us in purchasing farmable land in the nearby areas. But we had to add money from our pockets to purchase new land,” says Habibullah Khan, a resident of Banihal.  To excavate the tunnel in Pir Panchal Mountains, extensive blasts were carried out by the construction agency which left behind a lot of redundant material, mostly stones, which have been used in the construction of roads, resulting in their poor durability. The blasts have also caused deep cracks in the houses lying in the vicinity of the mountains with the locals alleging that the government provided them ‘meager compensation’ for carrying out repairs. Most of the houses have been damaged beyond repair and almost all of them need to be rebuilt. The locals also allege that the sound of the blasts has also affected the hearing capability of some people in the area.The authorities have also installed a huge stone crusher in the Gund area of Banihal to treat the residue taken out from the mountains after the blasts. The machine is spread over almost two kanals of land and poses a great threat to the ecology of the area. “Our trees, crops, flowers, roof-tops, gardens, almost everything is covered by huge quantities of stone dust. The land which was used to grow corn and maize is now totally uncultivable. The land has become parched and grayish,” a local said.The locals in the area along with the 2000 laborers working day and night on the project are also exposed to the health hazards. Abdul Gani Chandal, Sahab Begum and Noor-u-Din Shah, all local residents were detected with Tuberculosis in 2007 with Government Medical College, Srinagar and SKIMS confirming that they had inhaled excessive dust which led to the disease. The government has turned a blind eye to these cases.Sangaldan Higher Secondary school in Banihal, which provides education to more than 400 students of the area, too bears the brunt of the dust that hangs in the air over Banihal. Says Bashir Ahmad Bhat, a local, “By the time the bell rings, the students and staff of the school are clad in dust. It can seriously affect their health. Besides, the vehicular traffic on the road adjacent to the school causes excessive noise pollution inside the classrooms.”

When the construction kicked off, the water supply lines were destroyed and some roads which were used extensively for carrying machinery and labor have also been rendered unfit for a smooth traffic passage. These roads haven’t been rebuilt so far and neither have the water supply lines been repaired, adding to the miseries of the people. Banihal-Lambar road link is one such stretch, which has been used extensively by the railway authorities with the IRCON headquarter also situated on it. This stretch is lying in shambles and un-macadamized.

When a satellite survey of the Banihal-Qazigund railway project was carried out, it didn’t match the ground survey and the work on the tunnel had to be cancelled on three occasions. The wrong alignment has also cost the Railway Board of India a good fortune with some reports suggesting that the construction work in this area will stretch due to delays which will mean more woes for the residents.

However, the project which is scheduled to be completed in December this year, has offered a lot of economic opportunities to the local population.  Apart from jobs, new business establishments and shops have come up near the Banihal Station which is yet to be completed. Isaac, too, has opened a retail shop near the station. Some areas in Banihal which were so far disconnected from the main town have been provided road facility and new schools have been constructed in the area. The locals give credit to the rail project for making their dreams a reality. Almost 300 plus link roads have been laid since the work has started.

Qazigund-the gateway of Kashmir,

Qazigund is the gateway to Kashmir. Of late, it has also witnessed massive investment in developmental projects. Right now, it is home to the last stop of railway network in valley. And construction hasn’t been merciful here either. The Ghulab Bagh area where the HCC project is based right now is the most affected area.

Other areas too have been affected. For example, one of the roads which connects Doru, Verinag and other adjoining areas to the main town of Qazigund is in shambles. The large vehicles of the HCC plying on them throughout the day have created potholes, making them unfit for travelling, especially for small vehicles and the residents of the Ghulab Bagh.

At a distance of few kilometers from the NH1A, the HCC achieved breakthrough on October 14 last year when the 10•96 km Pir Panjal tunnel finally broke through the mountain. And on completion, it will be the longest railway tunnel in India, connecting the isolated Kashmir valley with the railway network at Udhampur.  

The tunnel which is scheduled to be completed by December this year holds a lot of promises for the people of valley as the distance between Banihal and Qazigund would be traversed in just 6.6 minutes and the avalanche prone area which consumed numerous lives all these years would be bypassed by the travelers.

“Right now, more than 700 people are working on this project in Qazigund area, of which about 80% people are locals who have been employed to make an earning out of this developmental work,” said an official on the site.

Like Banihal, the development in Qazigund too has come at a cost. Mohammad Hussian, a resident of Ghulab Bagh says,” I had eight kanals of land. Every year we had bumper crop. But from past few years, the production has declined considerably because of water scarcity and the silt deposition in the fields which has turned crops yellow much before the harvesting season”.

The other visible negative impact of the tunnel building in the vicinity is the seepage of polluted water into the water bodies of the area making it unfit for irrigation or domestic usage. However, two sedimentation plants were started to prevent further pollution of water bodies.

”The agricultural land was devastated by pollution and the animals which consumed water from these water bodies needed vet care frequently” says Irshad Ahmad, a local. Though the residences are sparsely scattered in the area, the blasting carried out has also caused damage to the buildings.

Despite all these troubles, the ambitious Banihal-Qazigund tunnel project is likely to change the economic landscape of these areas. It will not only save hundreds of lives which are consumed by the avalanche prone NH1A highway yearly but will also provide employment to thousands of jobless people in these areas by providing an impetus to the trade sector.