A shocking November 1 letter—in which the Jammu and Kashmir Police alleged that 29 people with "terror or criminal' backgrounds had been employed at the under-construction Ratle hydroelectric project—has recently surfaced.
The letter, addressed to Megha Engineering and Infrastructure Limited (MEIL), which handles the 850 MW run-of-the-river project on the Chenab River in Kishtwar, is the latest twist in a series of back-and-forth allegations between BJP MLA (Kishtwar) Shagun Parihar and the company COO, Harpal Singh.
Notably, the Rs 3,700 crore project has often faced delays and interference from Pakistan since it began in 2008.
Singh had earlier accused Parihar of allegedly interfering in the long-stalled project—stating that she had pressured them to hire people from Kishtwar since winning the elections there in 2024.
Parihar, who has—in the past—accused the company of hiring questionable people, has since said that the letter "vindicated" her allegations, as per an Indian Express report.
In the letter addressed to MEIL's General Manager, Kishtwar SSP Naresh Singh had said that SHOs involved in a routine police verification of Kishtwar residents involved in the project had said that the 29 people were “found involved in subversive/anti-national activities’’.
“By engaging these employees, security of Power Project gets compromised as these individuals are having militancy links/criminal background,” SSP Singh added, enclosing a list of the 29 names, and urging MEIL to reconsider hiring them.
The MEIL COO admitted he had responded to the letter only last week, assuring the J&K Police that they would watch out for suspicious activity, but was hesitant to retrench the 29 people.
He claimed that the company's earlier attempt to retrench 200 of its employees backfired badly.
However, the BJP MLA, who had said that MEIL was creating an environment fostering communal violence by keeping their surrendered militant employees, has now attacked MEIL over the 29 people.
