SRINAGAR, July 13: Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) leader and former legislator Abdul Rahim Rather on Monday urged the government to strike a balance between smooth functioning of the brick kilns and implementation of COVID-19 protocol in Kashmir.
In a statement issued here, Rather said that from last some weeks there have been many flip flops in the decisions of the government vis-a-vis the activities of the brick kiln industry in the Kashmir valley.
“It seems that there is some lack of coordination and communication among the wings of the administration. On one hand it allows the import of the skilled labour and on the other they are shown a red signal with the result the people associated with this business have landed in a dilemma and are at risk of suffering huge economic losses,” the JKAP leader added.
He stressed that the government should take a firm decision, whether to allow the brick manufacturing activities or not, leaving no ambiguities among the people who are directly or indirectly associated with this business.
“As we all know that bricks form an important and basic component of all the building projects and non-availability of this key component in the market will severely hamper the completion of various development projects in the valley,” he added.
The JKAP leader said that in absence of brick manufacturing here, the bricks will have to be imported from Jammu or Punjab which will inflict a huge financial loss to the people who need to construct houses and other constructions and to the UT exchequer itself as well.
“This needs to be borne in mind that the closure of brick kilns in the valley will not only mean shortage of bricks and its import at exorbitant rates, but will leave a good chunk of people jobless and will hamper other associated businesses including cement, iron, timber, tiles and marble etc,” Rather stressed.
He added that as per the brick kiln owners the labourers have been stopped at Lakhanpur for the purpose of quarantine with the result that their labourers are now reluctant to come to the Valley. “They say that they have been victimised and there is none available from the administration to respond to their requests and calls.”
Rather said that the fact is that the labourers should either not have been given a nod to go for the activity, or should have not been stopped midway which will be detrimental for their livelihood.
Rather said that it is imperative on the part of the UT Government to be clear whether to allow or not to allow this activity in the Valley, so that the people associated with this industry are not kept in dilemma.
“The Divisional Commissioners of Jammu and Kashmir, the nodal officer designated to monitor the movement of such labourers and the department of labour should have a close coordination to facilitate this movement,” he demanded.
Rather said that the brick kiln owners have invested huge sums in the shape of advances to the labourers from the other states only after they were given a green signal by the UT government earlier. “However while giving a go ahead to this activity, the government should issue proper Covid-19 related guidelines for adherence by the people associated.”
