Former Member of Legislative Assembly Pahalgam, Rafi Ahmad Mir Tuesday sought immediate release of the pending payments to the ponywallas who have worked during the Amarnath Yatra period in years 2018 and 2019 at Pahalgam and Baltal.
A statement of Mir issued here quoted him as demanding the government that the pending payments of the ponywallas should be released immediately.
He castigated the government for withholding their dues.
“The insensitive approach of the government towards the long-pending legitimate grievances of these poor workers is unfortunate,” Mir said. “They work with dedication but have been pushed to the wall and the government seems to be insensitive towards their well-being.”
He said that the pending payment issue had severely hit their means of livelihood.
Mir said most of these workers were the sole breadwinners of their respective families and it was impossible for them to manage their day-to-day expenditure as the government had withheld their dues since year 2018.
He sought personal intervention of Lt Governor Manoj Sinha into the release of pending payments and hoped that in view of the holy month of Ramadhan and other reasonable circumstances, the government would respond to this public demand.