PAMPORE: Congress leader Advocate Zameer Farooq has urged the LG-led administration to restore the functioning of stone quarries in several areas of Pampore and Awantipora in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
Advocate Zameer told Kashmir Reader that thousands of families in Ladhoo, Mandakpal, Wuyan, Khrew, Shar Shali, Zantrag, Pukhribal, Sathpukhran, Lethpora, Awantipora area of Pulwama district used to earn their livelihood from stone quarrying.
The Congress leader said the people of the aforementioned villages are highly dependent on stone quarries as they have been doing this work for the last many decades.”Most of the population of the area is earning its bread and butter through stone extraction. However, unfortunately for the last few years, the work of stone excavation is going through thick and thin as every now and then the quarry workers are being restricted to carry on their business on one or the other pretext,” he said.
He said the people associated with the business are not able to meet their ends. It is pertinent to mention here that people have availed loans from various financial institutions but due to the stoppage of the work, they are not able to liquidate these loans as a result of which their loan accounts have turned NPA.
Apart from it, these people are not able to pay the school fee of their wards, hence creating obstacles in their way to obtaining education which is their fundamental right, Zameer said. “Although we have approached various departments regarding the issue, no heed was paid to this grievance,” he said.
He urged the LG administration and the concerned departments to look into the matter and do the needful for the welfare of the people.