ADDRESSING SHORTAGE

UT administration has been late to address the problem of shortage of construction material as witnessed at many sites after the government lifted Covid-19 lockdown from Kashmir valley.

Recently many mega projects could not carry on their work due to the shortage of sand and other construction material as the local sand diggers have been barred from sand extraction after the auction of these sand blocks post abrogation of article 370, in August last year.

Now the Chief Secretary has given the deadline of July 20, 2020 to the different wings of administration to clear all the roadblocks and allow PRI’s in the respective villages to extract construction materials from Nallahs and water bodies so that the construction work does not stop.

Similarly, Geology & Mining Department was instructed to forward mining projects of 2nd phase auction for environmental clearance by 31st July, 2020.

The Chief Secretary urged the Industries Department to consider streamlining of mining auctions to stabilize sale prices of minor minerals by developing a long term price fixation mechanism.

Regarding simplification of process of obtaining environmental clearances, Chief Secretary directed Administrative Secretary, Forest to examine the matter and revisit the checklist of required documentation and keep it to the minimum required by law.