Leaseing of resources to outsiders slammed

Report Zahiruddin, Chitral

The local people have complained that the government had leased out mineral resources to non-locals on nominal rates.
Talking to this scribe here on Tuesday, they said that the Sarhad Development Authority (SDA) high-ups had done nothing to exploit the mineral resources which had the potential to provide employment to thousands of people and make the country prosperous.
They alleged that the lease of the mineral in various mountains, meadows, riverbeds and streams were given on lease by the SDA allegedly not in a transparent way and the terms of reference of the lease deed was not implemented. They said that there were scores of leaseholders who had yet to start work on the sites to dig out the minerals despite the lapse of years.
Syed Muzaffar Ali Shah, district president ANP, said that most of the leaseholders waited for a chance to sublet the lease to another party and earn hefty amount of money. He said that in some instances, the lease of a certain site had been further sublet for the third or fourth time.
He said that during the days of the former princely state, Chitral, forests, pastures and riverbeds beds were generally public properties and every one had got equal opportunity to utilise them for their benefit. Expressing regret, he said that the government leased out certain riverbeds beds along the Chitral river without the consent of the local population. The ANP apprehended disastrous effects of it on the local people who largely depended on the natural resources as non-local leaseholder would completely dislodge them.
Mr Shah said that a large chunk of mountain stretching over a length of more than ten kilometres had been leased out to a single person in many cases. The balance of biodiversity would be destroyed if explosion were carried out in the mountains.
Citing example of Gahirait Gol, he said that the Kashmir markhor had fled the area due to the ongoing mining work to explore minerals. He said that many villages covered by the mountains would be washed away as the mining activity would act as a catalyst to cause mud-flood and rock sliding.
He alleged that the SDA high-ups leased out minerals without carrying out topography and implications of mining activities. The residents of Chitral have emphatically demanded that the lease agreements must be cancelled on which work had not been started for over two years. They also demanded that those agreements should also be annulled which caused environmental degradation or directly affect the local population.