Lumbru Ram’s store of prosperity

Basking in the sun - happy running a provision store at Jhakri, Lumbru Ram, a former Panchayat Pradhan reflects on the transformation that a laidback village community had undergone as the country’s largest hydroelectric project came alive in upstream Satluj Valley.

“Subsistence agriculture was the major occupation of Dhargora villagers before plans for setting up the 1500 MW Natpha Jhakri power plant were drawn up about two decades ago,” recalls the 64 year old Lumbru.

From apprehension about getting uprooted, to resistance, to a reluctant partnership, to an ultimate catharsis of accepting a leadership role in working towards the development of his community as the mega project grew out of the drawing board to command its position among the country’s hydroelectric projects, the former village headman today is a satisfied man.

It was during 1973 and 1987, when Lumbru was the vice-president of Dhargora Panchayat that SJVN touched the lives of the villagers by laying bare plans to tame the mighty Himalayan river Satluj and generate electricity.

“Back then some villagers dismissed the very idea as wishful thinking, others were fearful of inviting the wrath of gods if someone tried to meddle with a river in holy lands. Initially there was apprehension and even resistance to the change coming about, but once convinced, the villagers turned around to become partners in the unfolding development,” he says.

Lumbru Ram, with 480 other families negotiated with SJVN - the public sector company executing the project, to ensure that none turned homeless or landless before surrendering ancestral farmland to settle for a relief and rehabilitation package.

To top it, one member of the most affected families was ensured a job by the company, other than the compensation awards for land acquired.

Parting with ancestral land was indeed touching in 1991, when Lumbru surrendered 46 bighas of the 46.5 bighas he owned for the project. At Rs 24,000 a bigha, the compensation though did fetch a tidy sum for the period.

Lumbru Ram's provision store		Rehablitation Colony Constructed by SJVN for Jhakri project affected

Lest anybody be rendered landless, a term used for one who owned land below 5 bighas, SJVN stepped in and bought additional land elsewhere to have Lumbru in possession with a minimum land holding, which was a project norm and a part of company policy.

Not just the village headman, by paying Rs 12.3 crore land was bought for providing a minimum of 5 bigha holding for 112 project affected families, lest they be counted among the landless.

Of these 112 affected families, keys of built up houses were provided to 21 families while the others did pick up Rs 45,000 each as one-time cash compensation to build houses of their own, elsewhere.

As promised, of Lumbru Ram three sons, the eldest secured a permanent job with SJVN and like did 61 others from the project most affected families.

Spin offs entailed Lumbru’s second son to secure self employment. He bought a taxi whose service was contracted for on a long term basis by SJVN.

Not to be left out, the third son is also part of the larger SJVN family, executing minor contracts in the project zone.

As transformation of the rural community came to hold, Lubmru’s leadership among the community was firmly established when he contested the Panchayat elections in 1995 for the position of Pradhan, which he won firmly.

Passing the leadership onto younger generations, as his term neared its end in 2000, the Panchayat Pradhan set up provision store to cater to the hustle and bustle of Jhakri Township that had come up and replaced the laid back rural economy in the valley.

From days of cooking meals on log fired hearths, fetching water on human backs from distant sources, to gas fired kitchens, tap water, good healthcare facilities and a branch of Delhi Public School imparting education to our grandchildren, Dhargora Panchayat has come a long way feels Lumbru Ram’s wife.

While the mega plant did tame the mighty Satluj to kick start generation in 2004 and now powers the country’s needs, we the inhabitants who gave up ancestral lands to see it being set up, have benefitted in equal measure, and are proud of it, Lumbru says.

Post script:

With the 1500 MW underground plant quietly churning mighty turbines to generate power, the over ground Jhakri township has settled into a quiet mode after the project was commissioned in 2004.

The former agricultural society today boasts of an urban lifestyle, which provides employment and self-employment avenues for many.

Down the road from Lumbru’s shop, stands the small locality of 21 houses spread over two rows, where live the families of those who surrendered their land for the power project and were given keys to the new habitation by SJVN.