J-K: Poonch administration organises 'darbar' to address issues of mining

District administration of Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district organised a public hearing 'darbar' to stop illegal mining, and to get environmental clearance of the legal mining project.

The public hearing awareness darbar was organised in Ajote village of the district, and was attended by the general public along with the Panch, Sarpanch, and elected DDC members. People thanked the district administration for the public hearing awareness darbar for permitting only legal mining.

Ravinder Kumar Bitta, a local said, "I would like to thank Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the idea of public hearing awareness darbars which allows the common people to put their concerns in front of the authorities. Today's darbar focused on the issue of illegal mining in the area. After discussion, we got to know that the contractor was not at fault and it was due to miscommunication between the department and him that the issue was raised."

"Our appeal today was to get a solution of the problem that illegal mining has been causing to the locals of the area, and to get the work of legal mining started at the soonest," he added.

Chowdery Fazal, a local added, "I would like to thank the government for the initiative. I would like to request the authorities to continue the legal work of mining at the soonest so that the people employed in the sector can get back to work and can finally earn their livelihood."

Sunil Kumar, Sarpanch of the village said, "Initially, all the talks would just remain between the contractor and the authorities, but today the discussion was made public and the people could keep their views about the issue. I would like to thank the government, especially PM Modi, for that."

"The mining has been causing immense trouble to the locals. In older times the houses were made of mud and straw, but today, construction is more permanent and uses brick and mortar. The raw material was not being available because of the mining and hence the development work was hindered," he added.

Basharat Hussain, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Poonch said, "For the environmental clearance of the legal mining process, a public meeting is essential. Here we heard to the matters of the locals and have made a video what they had to say about the project."

"The common conclusion of it was that the process of legal mining should be completed at the earliest so that those associated with the sector can start earning their livelihood again," he added.

( With inputs from ANI )