Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Aug 5: There are nearly 100 joinery mills that are operating illegally in North Kashmir’s Baramulla while the authorities are in deep slumber, failing to take any action against the violators.
As per details available with Excelsior, only some of the joinery mills in the district are registered and have got the necessary licenses while several others have not been approved by the concerned department for operating joinery mills, but carry on the same with the assistance of the field officers in the district.
However, those, who are in the know-how of the matter, said these mills, which are not registered, are operating in league with the officers on the ground, while the concerned officers in the district have failed to act against such violators despite being aware of the violations.
Further, they said that most of these joinery mills were having licenses, but after the SRO 103 was issued by the authorities, their licenses were cancelled. “Most of them have re-applied for the licenses after the SRO 103, but their cases are currently in the pipeline; but they are still operating,” the officials said.
They said that while this remains the issue for the majority of such cases, there also are cases where the joinery mills which are not even registered and have not even applied for the re-registration are operational in the district.
The DFO, Jhelum Valley Division, Baramulla, Pervaiz Ahmad told Excelsior that more than 60 percent of the joinery mills operating in the district have got the licenses while 35 percent of the cases of joinery mills are in the pipeline and under process.
“There are few cases, which account for less than 5 percent, which are operating without licenses, necessary action will be taken against them,” he said.
He said that the concerned Range Office has, in this regard, already issued notices to some of the violators. “They have been given 15 days to show compliance after that action will be taken against them; if more such mills are running without the necessary licenses, action will be taken against them because such violations cannot be allowed to happen.”
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