Outside company making fortunes at the cost of our livelihood: Locals
SAMANIYA BHAT
SRINAGAR, Feb 25: Jehangir Ahmed, a lone bread earner for his family sitting on the bank of river Jhelum at Delina-Ghat, feels helpless to return to his home. The government’s blanket ban on sand extraction from river Jhelum has rendered him jobless.
“Some Kolkata based private company has been allotted dredging contract of river Jhelum. This has not left me unemployed alone but thousands of people like me who until this time solely depended on sand extraction to run their families are craving for a dignified livelihood,” he told Kashmir Despatch, while tears rolling down on his face.
He said that since ages, labourers from different parts of the valley were earning their livelihood by extracting sand and clay from river Jhelum. But now with the government’s privatization policies these labourers are going through a very tough time.
“The government has snatched our bread by allotting a contract of de-silting of river Jhelum to a private company which has posed a serious threat to our livelihood,” few labourers associated with the sand extraction work told Kashmir Despatch in Uri.
These labourers remarked that the government’s ban on sand extraction has directly hit them as sand extraction was the only means by which they would earn a living for their families. “This ban has impacted thousands of families directly and indirectly in our area. We have been rendered penniless and we are not in a position to feed our families,” observed one of these labourers.
Few labourers said that the “Reach” a Kolkata based private company was given the contract Post Abrogation of Article 370. “During that phase, the internet services were snapped across Jammu and Kashmir due to which local contractors failed to bid online through E-Tendering,” said a local contractor to Kashmir Despatch, pleading anonymity.
Mohammad Rafiq Bhat a resident of Delina while expressing displeasure on allotment of contract to an outside company remarked that the government ‘is squeezing the space for generation of employment for locals’. “Giving contract to outside companies at the cost of local tantamount to snatching of our bread and butter,” said another contractor who deals with the business of sand extraction.
Fayaz Ahmed Shah, sarpanch of Delina village of north Kashmir’s Baramulla reacted over the government’s ban on sand extraction from river Jhelum saying that government should reconsider its decision at an earliest so that the poor section of the society who depend on this business do not suffer.
“Thousands of families depended on sand extraction and now it is very difficult for their children to look for other jobs all of a sudden. It would not be possible for most of these families to switch over to other jobs as educated youth in Jammu and Kashmir are already unable to find jobs,” said Imran Bhukari, a social activist.
He said that around 18 lakh people in Valley survive on the sand extraction from river Jhelum and around 10,000 families completely rely on the manual work of this business. “Jammu and Kashmir is already facing tremendous unemployment problem and this will further push the people towards dark ages. The segment of society is pleading to lieutenant governor G S Murmu and the central government for revocation of ban on sand extraction. The local should be given priority in this sector so as to ensure their dignified livelihood,” Bukhari told Kashmir Despatch.
