Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) on Monday urged the government to allow extraction of construction material by local mining contractors who have been barred due to e-tendering process.
In a statement, the party leader Muhammad Ashraf Mir said the blanket ban on extraction of building material has halted all type of developmental activities both in government and private sector since November 2019 in Kashmir.
“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. Since the auction took place online, the contracts were, however, not allotted to few successful bidders. With the result the whole extraction activity has come to a standstill, not only disrupting the government and private constructions but have sky rocketed the prices of raw material for local population,” he said.
The JKAP leader said the government’s move to go for e-tendering left the local contractors high and dry in view of their net worth and lack of internet facility.
“While it is understandable that auctions to J&K mines were held online in order to make the process fair but the e-auction proved disastrous for the local contractors who could not participate in the bidding process because clampdown and internet blockade in October 2019,” Mir said.
He said since then the local contractors were not being allowed extraction of key construction material like sand, gravel, boulders and aggregate it has caused acute scarcity of raw material for developmental activities besides rendering thousands of local youth associated with extraction and mining business jobless.
“The government should revisit this entire bidding process for mining activities and ensure mass participation of local contractors in it,” Mir said.
