JKNPP protests miserable plight of tractor, trolley operators

Jammu, 30 July 2020

Anguished over the miserable plight of hundreds of tractor and trolley operators who were rendered jobless, a strong contingent of panther activists along with scores of aggrieved labourers staged a vociferous protest demonstration here in Jammu today. While raising anti- BJP government slogans, the infuriated protesters torched its effigy and accused the J&K administration of pushing them to starvation.Speaking to the media, Mr. Harsh Dev Singh sought a fair deal for the tractor and trolley operators who have been rendered jobless by the govt. in view of restrictions imposed on lifting of sand and gravel from the river beds. He said that while restrictions on manual lifting of sand and bajri were unwarranted, the govt. functionaries were exceeding their mandate by imposing a blanket ban on extraction of such materials. �And while the poor tractor and trolley operators were restrained from lifting the said materials, the big contractors and influential land mafia was openly extracting minerals from river beds by using JCB machines, earth excavators and lifting and transporting such material by defying the law as well as the orders of the government�, Harsh rued. He charged the local administration and officials of geology and mining department of conniving with big contractors while disallowing the poor tractor trolley owners of their legitimate claims. The poor tractor trolley operators who had obtained loans from Banks are finding it impossible to pay the installments in view of total collapse of their business in the wake the said restrictions and the ongoing Corona pandemic resulting in untold miseries for thousands of such dependent families. He called for waving off the loans of the affected persons as a goodwill gesture in keeping with the fundamentals of a welfare state.
Lambasting the BJP leaders for remaining silent over the grave issue, Mr. Singh divulged that while �grey-gold� mafia continued to fully control illegal mining in many rivers, streams and nullahs of Jammu region , several government projects and the general public have been badly suffering as the rates of the building material like sand, gravel and stones have increased more than double in recent times. �Despite the ban on mining activity in the river beds, it has been reported that the illicit extraction of minerals continues to go on during night and early morning hours by the mafia. Even the JCB operators in the vicinity use their machines during night hours and extract the sand and gravel clandestinely. The new trend has begun as many people who were connected with mafia and enjoying patronage of political leaders have created huge illegal dumps of material. They have fixed rates of material at their sweet will. There is total chaos and the State Administration has gone into deep slumber�, Harsh divulged. He said that as per the reports published in a sect of media earlier, in Jammu district alone 60 % of the rivers streams/nallah blocks had been auctioned but the mafia has taken control illegally of the entire area. He said that the same is the position in Udhampur, Reasi, Rajouri, Samba , Kathua and other districts of J&K.
Further asserting that with land mafia enjoying the hegemony over the mining trade, Mr. Singh said that the poor tractor and trolley operators have been rendered jobless and left in lurch for the past several months with nobody in the Governor�s Administration taking cognizance about the situation and coming to the rescue of the hundreds of hapless labourers. He urged upon the govt. to review its orders so as to save the poor tractor/trolley owners from starvation and take punitive action under the law against the contractors, goons and the erring officers in league.
Prominent among those who spoke on the occasion included Rajesh Padgotra, Surinder Chouhan, Rajesh Gondhi, Khajur Singh, Nirmal Kishore Yoginder Sumbria, Ganesh Dutt, Subash Chander, Amit Sharma, Jaswant Singh, Puran Sharma, Gulshan Singh, Angrez Singh, Mohd. Jawed, Uttam Kumar, Sandeep, Mohd. Saleem, Jankar Chopra, Shubam Langeh, Chain Singh, Rayaz Ahmed, Mukesh, Ashok Kumar, Mumtaz Ahmed besides others.