Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) on Tuesday asked the government to constitute a full-fledged Regulatory Commission to control hike in prices of building material.
In a joint statement, JKAP leaders Mohammad Ashraf Mir and Abdul Rahim Rather demanded that a body of experts including representatives of various construction material producing associations be also formed to find tangible solutions to the issues faced by the construction sector from time to time.
“The indiscriminate rise in prices of construction material may lead the common people and contractors into debt traps. This unjustified price rise has badly hampered overall developmental activities both in private and public sectors,” they said.
They demanded the regulatory commission should be also mandated to review ban on process of extraction of building material in order to ensure maximum participation of local contractors and labourers that can eventually bring down the costs of building material.
“The government introduced e-auction for mining activities has only favoured outside J&K contractors, giving a death blow to the locals associated with this business. With the result the whole extraction activity has come to a standstill,” they said.
They said the government should revisit the policy to allow non-locals to extract sand and other minerals from Jhelum and other water bodies.
“The government should revisit entire bidding process for mining activities and ensure mass participation of local contractors and labourers. Till then, the government should allow the local contractors to go for extraction of the construction material on the royalty basis which was in vogue prior to October 2019,” they said.