Thaindian News

By Devirupa Mitra
New Delhi, Aug 13 (IANS) One of India’s flagship projects in Afghanistan, the Salma Dam, has turned into a security nightmare, with its neighbourhood being the battleground for two rival warlords, one of whom is in charge of its security.

India is involved in $750 million worth of reconstruction programmes in Afghanistan and one of the biggest is for building the 107-metre high Salma Dam on the Hira Rud river in northwest Afghanistan’s Herat province at a cost of about $116 million.

The dam construction, assigned to the state-run Water and Power Consultancy Services India Ltd (Wapcos), began in 2004. It was due to be completed in two years but has since been rescheduled at least twice, with the next deadline being December 2010.

While the security of nearly 250 Indian nationals in the remote location has always been a concern, a series of recent incidents led senior officials to shoot off a series of worried letters last month.

U.N. Panjiar, secretary in the water resources ministry, held a review of the Salma Dam on Aug 3 when security apprehensions were discussed.

The latest scare took place July 10 when fighting took place just a few kilometres away in a nearby village and in which about 20 people were killed.

After that incident, there have been urgent letters from the field to the firm’s headquarters in Delhi, Indian consulate and Afghan authorities, asserting that workers were living in “constant fear”.

The missives talk about “unknown” armed personnel in civilian dress at the construction site, Afghan workers “disappearing” and some of them taking part in the fighting. They have also reported certain hired trucks going off from the location without permission.

“The workers hear gunshots daily in the nearby area,” an official who has visited the project site told IANS.

In fact, the project contractors had asked that work be temporarily stopped till the security scenario improves. “But we did not agree to the demobilisation, as this project is very sensitive and central for India’s assistance plan,” said a senior Wapcos official.

The Afghanistan general elections Aug 20 led to a reduction in the number of security personnel from the construction site as they were deployed elsewhere.

“There has been a massive movement of security forces in the vicinity as well as lots of low-flying helicopter and plane sorties over the area. This is very frightening for workers on the site,” he said.

Project officials have written to the authorities asking for the deployment of at least 100 Afghan National Army personnel instead of the local police.

The security in-charge of the project, called the project commander, Syed Gulbuddin Khan, is in fact a part of the dilemma that Indian officials face.

“He is fighting a war of supremacy with another local warlord. Therefore, his forces, who are guarding us, also take part in the fighting,” another senior official told IANS.

Indian officials however cannot antagonise Khan who has been looking after the security since the project started. “We have maintained good relations with him and he has promised to protect us till the last drop of blood in his body. But the fighting does come disconcertingly close due to his involvement,” he added.

“I remember working at one in the night while hearing gunshots in the background,” said the official.

Another key concern is the 160-kilometre road that connects the construction site with Herat city - it’s the only conduit for transporting supplies, equipment and manpower. “It is a kaccha road with non-existent security. Whenever we travel, we have a convoy of at least two cars with 8-10 local security personnel,” he said.

In fact, a senior Wapcos official had a close brush with a kidnapping attempt on this road a couple of months ago.

While the Indo-Tibetan Border Police have been deployed at certain Indian installations in Afghanistan, they have not been posted at the dam site, so as not to attract “unwanted attention”.

“We have very good relations with local Afghans. We were advised that if Indian security personnel were posted here, then their presence could be used by anti-Indian forces to divert attention and target us. Right now, we are not part of the problem, we just come in the crossfire sometimes,” explained the senior official.

Afghan authorities have assured security for the dam site.

Another challenge of the project has been the extreme weather conditions. “We have gone through two floods, then last year we had record snowfall. So far, we have had a cloudburst which has made the road very difficult to navigate,” he said.

(Devirupa Mitra can be contacted at devirupa.m@ians.in)