Aman Zutshi
JAMMU: In a serene mountain village of Salal in Jammu and Kashmir's Reasi district, what initially arrived as news of national pride in February 2023, has transformed into anxiety and uncertainty for approximately 330 families who now face potential displacement.
This reality of a frightening transformation was revealed by a short documentary film titled ‘Final Days of Lithium Village’ by independent journalist Rohit Upadhyay for Ground Report. As the film shows, Salal existed in obscurity until the Geological Survey of India (GSI) announced the lithium discovery, claiming that India now has the fifth-largest lithium reserves.
The documentary opens poignantly with random internet searches for "Salal village" yielding no results, until the keyword "Lithium Reasi" suddenly brings the area into digital existence—a metaphor for how the village only gained national recognition because of what lies beneath it, not because of the people who call it home.
Indian government announced the breakthrough discovery of 5.9 million tonnes of lithium reserves in February 2023. After the initial joy and euphoria, the residents of the Salal-Haimana area now find themselves caught between national development goals and their generational connection to their ancestral lands. The village is predominantly inhabited by Hindus with sizeable Muslim population.
"Initially, there was so much joy that people couldn't sleep," recalls one villager. "But gradually we found out that while it's beneficial for the government, for us it will be zero."
(Following is the link to the film Ground Report by Rohit Upadhyay on YouTube channel with permission from the producers)
"Where Will We Go?"
The camera pans across the lush green landscape of Salal as two local men share their concerns. "Many reporters have said that our village has become the highlight of the country, but ironically it has come to the top list for the government, not for us," one of them says. The other laments, "Everyone in the village is sad and perturbed about how they will leave their homes."
The community's concerns focus primarily on inadequate compensation and the destruction of their traditional way of life. Many residents depend entirely on the surrounding forests and mountains for their livelihood.
In one powerful scene, two elderly women wielding sickles to collect firewood from the forest sing a lamenting song that fills the air with sorrow. Their reliance on forest wood for cooking—despite the government's 2016 Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY) scheme to provide LPG connections to below-poverty-line households—underscores the disconnect between policy promises and ground realities.
"Since the discovery of lithium, we are being apprised by the government that we have to vacate the village, but they have to tell us how we will survive," one of the women explains. "Our small agricultural lands will be taken away, and what will happen to our future generations? We cannot afford to buy property in cities as money is needed. Here in the wild, we are getting everything free, and to buy a cooking gas cylinder from the market, a person requires money."
For these villagers, the mountain environment and their lands are crucial for their existence. "Mountains are very important for us. There are so many trees, fresh and cool air. This is what we love, which is why we want to stay here," explains another resident, who fears the psychological impact of being uprooted and "coerced to live in narrow settlements in the cities of Jammu region."
Some community members have already experienced displacement once before during the construction of the Salal Dam. "When you've experienced displacement once, you understand the pain," shares one elderly man. "The compensation we received has been spent—some built houses, some married off their daughters—but that money is gone. The land is lost forever."
"This Land Belongs to Our Ancestors, Not the Government"
As frustration mounts over the lack of consultation and fair compensation, many villagers have adopted a defiant stance, vowing to resist displacement at all costs. At the back of their minds is the profound connection to land that has been in their families for generations.
"We are ready to die for our land, but we will take proper compensation for it," declares one impassioned resident, his voice rising with conviction. "This is our land; it belongs to our ancestors. It does not belong to anyone's father, not even the government's father! We will fight, we will sacrifice ourselves if needed."
Shankar Singh, a 72-year-old local, expresses this sentiment with historical parallels: "We are ready to fight for our land just like Bhagat Singh sacrificed his life for India. We will give up our lives for our children." The elderly man's comparison to India's revered freedom fighter reveals how villagers view this not as a simple land dispute but as an existential struggle for their identity, social connections and future.
The resistance is further fueled by fears of losing not only their homes but their very sense of self. "We don't want to be labeled as migrants of Salal village," Singh continues, emphasizing that displacement would strip them not only of property but of their cultural belonging. "India should make us prosperous just like it is going to make itself."
Lack of Consultation and Government Indifference
Despite issuing mining tenders twice—in November 2023 and March 2024—villagers report having no discussions with officials about rehabilitation plans.
Shamsher Singh, another Salal resident, expresses his dismay while showing his vegetation and house that will soon be uprooted: "Our administration has never held talks with us. The government is conducting surveys, samples are being collected and sent, and our lands are being sold without our consent. The regime should have made arrangements for our settlement and livestock."
This sentiment is echoed by Shankar Singh, who claims that "the dispensation wants to suppress people to mine lithium as such incidents are happening. No local minister or representatives of local administration have come to hear our woes." He adds that villagers are now afraid to repair any part of their property "as we will get very little compensation for it and we have to leave the place."
Environmental and Seismic Concerns
Beyond the human cost, experts interviewed in the documentary warn of serious environmental consequences. The mining project threatens not only to displace people but also to disrupt the region's delicate ecological balance.
Saumya Dutta, a Delhi based energy expert, highlights that mandatory assessments haven't been properly conducted or shared with the public: "For any major project, Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Social Impact Assessment (SIA) are mandatory. If such assessments have not been conducted, then on what basis are tenders being issued?"
Dutta also notes that the Supreme Court has mandated that rehabilitation and compensation must be settled before land acquisition. He criticizes the lack of public information regarding how much lithium will be extracted, how the reserves are mapped, and most importantly, how many people will be displaced.
It may be recalled than when the Ministry of Mines announced the discovery of lithium in Reasi, questions emerged about the timeline of this knowledge. A 1999 geochemical mapping report titled “Final report on Regional Geochemical Survey for Base Metals and Lithium in Salal Area… Field Session 1995-96 and 1996-97” by GSI scientists, K K Sharma and S C Uppal, had already identified lithium concentrations in the same region, raising questions about why detailed exploration was delayed for over two decades despite the area showing high enrichment levels of approximately 831 parts per million at some sites.
Experts then pointed out that the 2023 estimate were made on the basis of preliminary prospecting stage, suggesting significant further exploration is needed to confirm the deposit's true economic potential, highlighting the gap between announcing a promising discovery and developing a viable domestic lithium supply chain.
The two experts featured in the documentary present somewhat contrasting views on the seismic implications of lithium mining in the Salal region.
The geologist from Jammu University acknowledges that mining activities will "inevitably disturb the ecology to some extent" with open-cast mining creating pits and disturbing local flora and fauna. He offers a relatively optimistic viewpoint, suggesting compensatory measures like plantation in other areas could offset the damage. He is dismissive of seismic concerns claiming "bauxite, high-level explosives won't be used" and concludes that the mining "is not going to have any significant impact on the surface."
In contrast, Saumya Dutta presents a more comprehensive and cautious analysis, highlighting several specific geological risks. He begins by emphasizing the lack of transparency, noting that critical information about the depth of deposits "will only be clear once it is made public." Delving deeply into the complex seismic implications, he explains that while upper-layer mining might not significantly impact seismicity, the real dangers emerge when mining extends below the water table.
Dutta identifies a specific risk mechanism: when explosives are used in mining operations, they create or expand fissures in the rock. If water seeps through these cracks and reaches an active seismic zone, it can "strongly trigger seismic activity." To support this concern, he cites documented precedents from Switzerland near Basel and Australia's Alice Springs region, where similar scenarios triggered earthquake sequences.
Describing such an approach as "sheer stupidity", Dutta insists that seismicity data must be published alongside mining plans, warning that explosions like removing overburden soil could expose fault lines in a high seismic activity zone, creating pathways for earthquakes to travel and even magnify in strength.
(Geological Survey of India Report on Lithium Deposits in Jammu and Kashmir.)
The Human Cost of Green Energy
The documentary ends on a poignant note as elderly women of the village express deep sorrow over the impending loss of not just their ancestral land but their entire way of life—their daily activities, cultural practices, and community bonds that cannot be transplanted to urban settings.
"The lithium obsession has gone too far," concludes one commentator, "while Salal's flora-fauna and human population is going to be its victim."
The Government of India announced two lithium mining tenders in November 2023 and March 2024, but both failed to attract sufficient bids. With the government preparing for a third attempt at issuing mining tenders, the battle lines appear to be drawn—not just over compensation rates, but over fundamentally different visions of development, belonging, and what constitutes progress in modern India.
In a poignant reflection that cuts through the technical debate, 58-year-old Vimla Devi expresses what her home means to her in deeply personal terms.
"The cool breeze in our fields, the beauty of our land, the breathtaking mountains we have to admire—how will we live without all this?" she asks with profound concern. "We won't last more than a couple of days away; our lives will be over there itself," she says, and adds, "This is what we love, this is where we belong."
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