Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Dec 4: People’s Democratic Party (PDP) leader Iltija Mufti today urged the LG-led administration to identify alternative land for the construction of a railway line from Pulwama and spare the agricultural land of the people.
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Speaking with reporters at the party headquarters, Iltija accused the LG administration of attacking the livelihood of people and “criminalizing” it.
“The proposed railway line from Pulwama through Awantipora and Bijbehara is very wrong; fertile agricultural land, orchards are coming under it; we have seen people protesting in Bijbehara because it is an attack on their livelihood,” she said.
The PDP leader stated that if the authorities want to construct the railway line, there are alternatives they should consider to spare the agricultural land.
“I am sure the authorities can take up non-agricultural land for the project,” she said.
Iltija said that the authorities are trying to make life difficult for people by, what she called, attacking their livelihood. She also raised the issue of the termination of Government employees.
“The LG-led administration through orders from MHA is criminalizing the people’s livelihood in Kashmir; not only that, we are seeing Government employees being terminated,” she said.
She emphasized that the elected Government must raise its voice on these terminations.
“We now have an elected Government; they should talk about these terminations, but nobody is talking about it.”
The PDP leader, who is also the daughter of former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti, castigated the authorities for initiating the construction of satellite townships without considering the fragile ecology of Kashmir.
“These towns are being proposed without any planning, without taking due care of the ecology of Kashmir; authorities are attacking the identity of people, making them feel insecure,” she said, while urging the administration to save agricultural land and explore alternatives.
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