Livelihoods Facing Derailment: Mehraj Ahmad, 55, a father of four, owns 10 kanals of apple orchard that now falls under the demarcated line. “It라이브 바카라 thanks to the orchard I was able to provide good education to my children,” he says.
Zeba—wife of Abdul Gani Bhat, an apple farmer—says not just their land, their house also falls under the demarcated area. “We don’t have any other source of income. We are worried,” she says.
Development Vs Farmers: In preparation for the next harvest season, farmers in Sonasamil village are pruning their apple trees to ensure high-quality produce.
Mohammad Amin says farmers living in Sonasamil are going to lose 70 per cent of the land, including orchards, houses and two graveyards. The land is among the most fertile in the region and the village is known as ‘the land of gold’. “People here are educated, but due to the lack of job opportunities, many have turned to farming. As a result, agricultural production has surged, making the economy strong and villagers financially independent,” he says.
How would you feel if someone threatened to snatch your most valued possession—the piece of land that you own, land that is your only source of livelihood? The apple farmers living in Sonasamil, Babbhar, Naman and Kakapura villages in Pulwama and Dirhama and other villages in Anantnag are all set to become victims of development that is not going to benefit them. In fact, it라이브 바카라 going to impact them badly.
One fine morning, government officials arrived in these villages, measured their land without their consent and demarcated it. They said the axis of the proposed Anantnag-Bijbehara-Pahalgam and Pulwama-Shopian railway lines is going to cut through the apple orchards in these villages, consuming roughly more than 600 acres of highly fertile land.
In Sonasamil and Babbhar villages of Pulwama, approximately 700 kanal of land has been demarcated, which will impact over 100 families. In Naman and Kakapura villages, 250-300 kanal of land is going to be encroached upon, impacting 50 families. In Dirhama village of Anantnag, the proposed railway line is set to consume 600 kanal of land, snatching the livelihood of 57 families.
Apple industry is a major contributor to the horticulture sector. It roughly employs over 27 per cent of Kashmir라이브 바카라 population and contributes 8 per cent to the GDP. Over 35 lakh farmers are dependent on the apple industry.
The apple farmers say they are not opposed to development but this is something that will have a direct impact on their lives and livelihood. For many, these orchards are their sole possession, a wealth that gets passed on from generation to generation. They are worried that this will cause an ecological imbalance in the region and also have an impact on employment.
Text and Photographs by Yasir Iqbal
(This appeared in the Print as 'Who Moved My Orchard?')
