Will press NOTA button in forthcoming DDC elections: Tractor Union

STATE TIMES NEWS

JAMMU: Tractor Union of Jammu, under the leadership of Arif Hussain, Chairman of the Union today organized a meeting in wake of forthcoming DDC elections in J&K.
Addressing the meeting, Arif said that Union has unanimously decided to press NOTA button in forthcoming DDC elections to show resentment against all political parties which completely failed to raise their genuine demands and leaving them at the verge of starvation. He said that the ban on mining has largely affected daily earners, who are dependent on mining.
“If this ban continues, affected families will die of starvation, as it has affected everyone from labourers and mine owners to transporters, ” said Arif, adding that since the ban on mining, families concerned with this occupation have been struggling to make both their ends meet. The COVID-19 pandemic has come as nightmare for them squeezing all their reserves and putting them in extremely hardships.
He asked all those involved in this occupation should question representatives of political parties who approached them for their support that what have their parties done in addressing their genuine demands and should return them with respect so that they can understand their sufferings. Arif maintained that despite approaching all the concerned platforms to get their issues mitigated and even after knocking every door, nothing has been done in this regard so far despite the fact that over thousands of labourers and their families engaged in mining have been severely affected by the ban.
Unemployed drivers and helpers and thousands of families whose livelihood is linked with sand and stone mining at river beds are now out of jobs due to ban on mining activities. The sand miners, diggers, boat-owners find themselves at a disadvantage in this new mining policy. The sand diggers who belong to the working-class community have been the worst hit due to the introduction of the new mining policy in Jammu and Kashmir.
It is the responsibility of the government thus to acknowledge and respond to the concerns raised by Tractor Union making sure that the policy does not undermine their interests, added Arif. He called for waiving off the loans of the affected persons as a goodwill gesture in keeping with the fundamentals of a welfare state.
Prominent among those present in the meeting include Lakhvinder Singh, Krishan Choudhary, Nresh Bagat, Ayub Khan, Koshal Sharma beside others.