Stone crushers and quarry owners from WuyalPampore and Khrew Saturday staged a protest against the authorities for cancellation of their short-term permits.
The crusher and quarry owners under the banner of ‘All Stone Crushers and Quarry Association’ held a protest at Press Enclave in Srinagar and demanded restoration of their permits by the Department of Geology and Mining.
“We and our families have been in this business for more than a century and have no other means to earn our livelihood. Due to the abrogation of Article 370 and the COVID-19 pandemic, we have already faced severe issues. We don’t have a penny to run our families and the Department of Geology and Mining has cancelled our permits, which is a huge loss for us and also the transporters associated with us,” said a protestor Shabir Ahmad Parra.
The protestors said that they were working on a short-term permit which the government had banned now while the power supply to the crushers had also been stopped.
“Our families and especially our children are suffering as we don’t have money to pay their tuition fee due to which they have been kicked out of schools. The financial institutions from which we have taken loans have also declared our accounts as non-performing as we are not in a state to repay the amount,” they said.
The protestors asked the authorities that if they wanted to work on the Smart City project from where they would get the resources and material.
“We appeal Lieutenant Governor ManojSinha and other authorities to look into the matter and restore our permit so that we don’t to suffer anymore,” they said.