BY MOHD MAJID MALIK ,BHADERWAH,APR04— Suffering power shortage and that too while living next to a hydro electric project. This is the irony of scores of villagers who despite living close to the Hydro electric project Sartingal ,Bhaderwah are not getting power supply.The villagers have to bear long cuts across the year. When the project was announced, the residents were promised round-the-clock power supply, besides jobs and compensation. None of those promises was fulfilled completely.Mukhtiar Ahmed Mir , which over looks the scenic reservoir of the Hydro Electric Project , alleges that the residents suffer 10 to 12 hours of power cuts daily, “Sixty per cent of my 6 kanal land was gobbled up by the reservoir. We had to practically start our life again. We had to shift our house. But we just got 30 per cent of the compensation promised to us. Then, we thought at least we would get good power supply, which also did not happen”.Ramneek Manhas of the same village remembers how as a teenager, he helped his father till their land. “The power project promised the moon, but it took away whatever we had. Today, I am forced to run a small business near the dam to make both ends meet,” he rues.“The state government did not give due concentration towards this hydro electric project when it was founded in 1970 . They made different slabs ,canals and babus categorised the cases at their will. Some people got compensation but many were left out,” he adds.“We are suffering serious shortfall of electricity and only in documents hydro electric project is functional and in on the ground is non functional and there is no one to functional it . We have taken up the matter with the government many a times but they dilly dallied,” said Mohd Ashraf sarpanch of Sartingal . The issue is still pending.He also countered the state government’s claim that compensation was paid to the farmers. “We got some compensation but it was far less and inadequate”. Not only this according to reliable sources in this project many youths are working as electricians /line mans which were appointed through back door . There is no need of any employee in said project because Hydro electric project is non functional and the contractors who construct the project canals and other infrastructure used sub substandard material in it , alleged local people of Bhaderwah town and demanded inquiry in all affairs of the project .