Kupwara, July 24 (KNO): Contractors in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Friday termed the new rate list, issued by department of geology and mining department for different construction materials, as “anti-poor” and “unjustified”.
Several contractors told the news agency—Kashmir News Observer (KNO) that the authorities have fixed the rates of construction material on their will which is unjustified and will impact the poor class the most.
They said that the rate of Nallah Bajri has been fixed at Rs 22.66 per cubic feet, which is completely unjustified and before a few months 200 cft of Nallah Bajiri would cost Rs 2500 which was also arbitrarily fixed by dealers themselves.
“Now with this rate the cost per 200 cubic feet of Nallah Bajri would be Rs 4500 which means a hike of Rs 2000 for 200 cubic feet. This is going to impact the common masses,” they said.
Contractors said that the rate of 20 mm of crusher aggregate has not been declared which is used in bulk for construction cum developmental activities by the contractors.
They said that the rate of crusher dust which is a by-product of crusher aggregate has been hiked from Rs 10 to Rs 25 per cubic feet and surprisingly its rate has been kept higher than crusher aggregate.
They claimed that the unit holders will ultimately transfer this hike in raw materials to common masses.
“The rate of sand produced by crusher units has not been mentioned which is an important material produced by crusher aggregate units than crusher dust,” the contractors said.
District geology and mining officer, Kupwara, Mumtaz Ahmad on being contacted told KNO that the rates have been revised after threadbare discussions with all the stakeholders in the interest of common masses.
He said people who couldn’t easily afford the material have praised the revised rate list. “All the concerns related to the same were kept in consideration after which rates were publicised,” he added—(KNO)