Protest held at Bhalwal Brahmana
Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Sept 15: Stepping up its offensive against the UT administration’s failure to curb mining mafia in Jammu and Kashmir, All Jammu and Kashmir Panchayat Conference (AJKPC)-a frontline body of elected Panchayat representatives-today staged a strong demonstration in block Bhalwal Brahmana and sought stern action against those indulging in siphoning off public money through illegal mining.
Led by Anil Sharma, UT president of AJKPC, scores of elected Panchayat representatives including BDCs, Sarpanches and Panches, raised slogans against the Geology and Mining Department and demanded immediate conferring of rights of mining blocks in favour of Panchayats.
“Ecology, flora and fauna and water bodies of all districts in J&K have been inflicted by the illegal minor mineral mafia and the concerned Mining Department instead of taking action against the violators willfully facilitating them to find new ways for carrying out illegal mining,” Sharma said.
The AJKPC leader said that some vested interests in the administration don’t want self-reliance of the Panchayats. “In July last year, it was decided to grant mining blocks to the Panchayats through short permits to achieve financial empowerment of grassroots democratic institutions in rural pockets but nothing has been done in this direction so far,” said Sharma while accusing the Geology and Mining Department of turning J&K a safe haven for illegal mining syndicate.
Sharma also demanded that tenants of Evacuee Property in Jammu and Kashmir should be conferred upon ownership rights without any delay.
Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion were Ram Saroop Sharma, Des Raj Bhagat, Verinder Kumar, Ganesh Dass, Capt Prabh Dayal, Bablu Sharma, Pooja Jamwal, Vijay Sharma, Ramo Devi, Bikram Singh, Kali Dass, Gittan Sharma, Inder Lal, Om Parkash, Ramesh Chander, Karan Singh, Capt. Bodh Raj, Ashok Kumar, Arjun Kumar, Tulsi Dass and Ravinder Kour.
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