Railway Connectivity In Kashmir Stalls As Residents Oppose Land Acquisition

In Babharan area of South Kashmir’s Pulwama, a sleepy village, where a large section of the population lives on the earnings from orchard land, residents fear that they will be deprived of their livelihood after a railway track is built here.

The laying of track in Pulwama is part of the plans of the Railway authorities to connect internal areas in Kashmir with the train service. The move has, however, been met with opposition from residents who are resisting the acquisition of their land for the work. Authorities are looking to connect even the areas in the frontier district of Kupwara with the railway line.

Farmers in several areas, including South Kashmir’s Anantnag, have urged authorities to abandon construction of the railway line from  Anantnag to Pahalgam, contending that this would affect their livelihood.

“The  Railway authorities recently carried out a fresh survey, which was started some six months back. A team of officials demarcated our land. We were also told that for the track whose width would be 400 feet, our land will be acquired, which would deprive us of most of our landholding. For the railway track, a large area of orchard land would be acquired, and we would even lose our houses,” said Ali Mohammad Shiekh, who has opposed the acquisition and even met several officials pleading against the takeover of his land.

According to officials, however, the rail connectivity will improve transportation within Kashmir. A fresh railway line has been proposed in both the southern and northern Kashmir areas, while the demarcation of land for laying of the network from Sopore to Kupwara has nearly been completed.

Railway officials said that they are looking at laying the track up to Shopian and Pahalgam in South Kashmir, as well as to the areas near the Line of Control (LoC) in Uri and Kupwara.

Additional Deputy Commissioner Sopore, Shabir Ahmad Raina, said that the demarcation of the land has been completed for a railway line from Sopore to Kupwara, and now it was for the Railway authorities to issue a notification for the acquisition of land." 

Zafar Hussain, Senior Section Engineer, Northern Railway, said that currently railway track from Qazigund to Baramulla is 117 kilometres long, and the survey is underway to connect new destinations to the railway line in Kashmir.

“We are very keen on improving the connectivity in Kashmir, and surveys are going on at various places to lay a railway network. The railway network will be connected to Pahalgam, which will help increase the pilgrim tourism. We are also looking at laying the railway line to Shopian for boosting the apple trade, as well as to the Uri area for smooth movement of security forces.”

According to a senior UT government official, on the Uri track, several tunnels would be built, due to which the track will traverse through a mountainous area, while in Kupwara, large tracts of private land, including that which is used for horticultural purposes, was required to be acquired for the railway line.

Former MLA Kupwara, Bashir Ahmad Dar, said that the people should be compensated properly for land acquisition while the government builds the railway network, adding that the means of connectivity to Kupwara were limited, and the train to improve mobility.

Given the concerns raised by farmers that their livelihood would be snatched if the government​‌ builds a railway network in Pahalgam, earlier, PDP leader Iltija Mufti, slammed the government for taking up the railway project, which will threaten the livelihood of the people.

Iltija said that the Bijbehara-Pahalgam railway line will badly impact the livelihood of people who depend primarily on the produce from their farmland, which, if taken over by the authorities for the project, will affect their means of survival.

Ali Mohammad said that he and his other family members will be hit hard if their land is taken away for the project.

“Our three houses in the family, which include that of my brothers, will come under the railway line, besides a large tract of our orchard land could be taken away for the project. We will become houseless if the project is built here.”

NC MP Aga Ruhulla, earlier, also raised concerns on the impact on the livelihood of farmers in South Kashmir due to the railway project. Raising the issue in Parliament, NC leader said that the two proposed railway lines of Awantipora to Shopian and Anantnag to Pahalgam in southern Kashmir will affect the livelihood of the people. Raising questions over the benefits of the project, he said that instead, the government should have gone for a social impact survey to assess the impact on the livelihood of people before embarking on the project.