Excelsior Correspondent
NAGROTA Aug 9: Pleading for immediate interim relief to trolley, dumper and tipper owners whose sustenance has been hit by delay in the allotment of minor mineral blocks in Nagrota Constituency, National Conference Provincial President Devender Singh Rana today urged the administration to take a compassionate view in view of the prevailing Covid pandemic.
“The stakeholders are virtually at the brink of starvation due to joblessness and the added trauma for them is liquidation of loans which they have availed for purchase of tippers and trollies”, Rana said after joining the protesters at Nagrota.
The Provincial President said that the hapless owners and the allied workers, who have already braved the brunt of joblessness for a pretty long time due to lockdown in the wake of coronavirus, can’t be abandoned by snatching from them the only source of sustenance. He hoped the Government would appreciate the hardships of the owners and workers and help them out of the precarious situation they are undergoing over the months.
He said the sad part of the owners of mineral carriage vehicles is that while most of them were suffering from joblessness, they are penalised by way of interest on EMIs on account of the purchase of vehicles. He sought consideration on the interest waiver till the time they are again on job.
He also sought process for allotment of mining blocks to be expedited, saying there should be no problem in allowing legal mining, within parameters of the set norms, not in the interest of the stakeholders but also for smooth construction business. He said non availability of extraction material especially sand has hugely impacted the construction sector that had shown signs of recovery after easing of Standard Operating Procedure. The mining sector holds the key to construction business which includes some key schemes and projects undertaken by the administration under various programmes for development in rural and urban areas. Once the important component of sand etc is scarcely available, the desired objectives of development would remain a far cry, he added.
Earlier, Bashir Kohli, President, All JCB, Dumper, Tipper and Tractor Trollies owners and workers union leading the protest said the drivers and owners are on the verge of starvation and their families are suffering because of the delay on the part of the Government to start legal mining in the Nagrota assembly segment despite repeated requests.
Rana pacified the protesters, and assured them that he will take up their legitimate demands with the administration. On this assurance, the protesters called off their protest.
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