Ladenge Jeetenge is a deep dive into the legal struggle of the residents of Srinagar, a town in Uttarakhand. The 2013 Uttarakhand floods streaked the Himalayan state with destruction. Their houses and material belongings were razed to the ground. Later on, it was found that the scale of destruction suffered by the residents of Pauri could be attributed to the illegal deposition of muck by the proponents of the Srinagar dam. The residents of Srinagar put up a brave and resilient fight against the project proponents in the National Green Tribunal and the Supreme Court, in search of justice and reparations. This 15 minutes film highlights the obstacles faced in the implementation of judicial orders on the ground and the role of peoples’ movements in the pursuit of rule of law and justice.

This film is the fourth of the five short documentaries, produced by Vidhi on key environmental issues in India under the project ‘Courting the Environment’. This is the culmination of a year-long research project tracking landmark judgments and orders on a wide range of issues such as the firecrackers ban in Delhi, industrial pollution in Patancheru (Telangana), the impact of dams in Uttarakhand, waste management in Delhi and protection of wildlife corridors around Kaziranga National Park (Assam). The documentaries have been produced in association with Riverbank Studios and have a prologue by Dia Mirza, veteran Bollywood actress and UNEP Goodwill Ambassador for India.

The release of ‘Ladenge Jeentenge’ was followed by a discussion with Medha Patkar (Convenor, National Alliance of People’s Movement), Dr. Ravi Chopra (Founder-Director, Peoples’ Science Institute) and Sanjay Parikh (Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India) as our Guests of Honour.

You can read an accompanying case brief here: https://bit.ly/3teGySO