Ratle project row: J&K Dy CM asks BJP leader to name ‘the big name’ involved

Choudhary said Kishtwar BJP MLA Shagun Parihar, whose name has been mentioned by the project in-charge as interfering with the work, was “only a name in the controversy”. The need was to find out “who is the big BJP leader behind all this’’, the Deputy CM said.

He said Sharma needed to “come out in public” and “tell who is the big BJP leader and the two MLAs of Kishtwar” who have been “interfering” in the working of projects in the area, including Ratle. Sharma is among the two MLAs of Kishtwar, representing Padder in the district, with Parihar being the other.

Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited Chief Operating Officer Harpal Singh, who is the Ratle project in-charge, recently went public saying the work was seeing a delay of two years, warning that continued disruptions could force the company to pull out of the project. A large part of the reason was Parihar, Singh said, alleging that she has been pushing the company to hire “her people”.

Choudhary said that two months ago he had also raised the fact that all the works at under-construction hydro-electric projects in Kishtwar district were decided on the “parchi (recommendations)” of “a very big leader of the BJP”. “It is on his parchi that a decision is taken as to who will be employed, or who will get contract for the supply of sand and bajri, or whose dumper or machine will be deployed for the project work.”

With the project in-charge publicly accusing some MLAs of not allowing them to work, time had come to initiate an inquiry, Choudhary said. “Agencies need to intervene as these projects don’t belong only to J&K, but to the entire country,” he said.

Choudhary also attacked Sharma over BJP claims about its leaders being men of principles and true nationalists. “Then why are you ruining these projects which belong to the nation?… If you have true nationalism, then companies working on these projects should be given a free hand and their officials allowed to work without interference.”

Decisions about recruitment of people in these projects should be on the basis of ability and merit, he said, adding that “BJP leaders should let poor people in the area get the jobs”.

Sharma could not be contacted for his response to Choudhary’s charges, but Parihar denied involvement of any senior BJP leader in the matter and said the NC should check its own ranks.

She earlier dismissed Harpal Singh’s allegations as “irresponsible” and “irrelevant”, and accused him of recruiting mostly surrendered militants for the project work.

The Ratle plant is a long-pending hydel project on the Chenab river in the hilly Kishtwar district, which is a joint venture between the Centre and the J&K government.