Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, June 30: Jammu and Kashmir National Conference today expressed concern over allotment of sand mining and mineral extraction contracts to non residents of J&K saying the measure will rob employment opportunities from our youth and affect livelihood of thousands of families.
In a statement Party’s Members of Parliament Muhammad Akbar Lone and Justice (Retd) Hasnain Masoodi while expressing concern over the discriminatory measures said last year the rights for extraction of the minerals was exclusively reserved for local contractors.
“Due to the restrictions on the internet, the local contractors couldn’t participate in the online bidding process. From contractors to manual sand diggers, laborers to transporters, and scores of other mineral workers who are directly or indirectly associated with the extraction of minerals, all will be in peril because local contractors failed to bid for the contract as the internet was not available to them. Whatever little they earn to manage their household chores comes from the sand mining,” the duo said.
“All the 10 mineral blocks in river Jhelum in Srinagar have gone to outsiders; in north Kashmir’s Baramulla, 26 sand mining contracts out of 38 mineral blocks have gone to outsiders, and in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, of seven mineral blocks, four have been awarded to outsiders in the bidding process,” they said.
Members of Parliament urged the Government to put the new mining or extraction policy in abeyance and allow the locals to draw their sustenance from it. “The first claim on local resources rightfully belongs to local people,” they said.
Meanwhile, the duo also urged the J&K Government to grant a six months extension to all PhD and Integrated PhD scholars whose residency period ends this year.
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