STATE TIMES NEWS NOWSHERA: Noval Sharma, social activist of Sunderbani has appealed to the District Development Commissioner Rajouri to immediately resolve the minor mineral mining issue to save the people connected with this activity. In a statement issued on Wednesday, Sharma alleged that the administration has taken an arbitrary decision of imposing a ban on the extraction of minor minerals without taking into consideration the consequences of this ban. The social activist asserted that the aforesaid ban has plunged the mining labourers into penury besides making their and their families’ survival amid pandemic very difficult. Not only this category, even the transporters and others associated with this activity and occupation have been adversely affected due to this ban. Noval Sharma while expressing serious concern over the issue said that people have been facing the brunt on account of Govt’s inaptness to handle this issue of great public significance. He said that so far as the problem of common people due to exorbitant prices of construction material is concerned, it is the result of this very arbitrary decision of the administration imposing a ban on extraction on minor minerals besides its failure to come up with a just and genuine mining policy for this Union Territory. Reiterating that the administration needs to immediately come to the rescue of the adversely affected section in this sector, Sharma appealed to the DDC to resolve this very significant issue at the earliest.
