After an entire summer of unemployment as a result of the unrest in Kashmir, thousands of quarry workers in the outskirts of Srinagar now find themselves permanently out of work. A government order issued on November 24 has banned quarrying in the Athwajan-Pantha Chowk belt, citing safety and ecological concerns. It has declared the area highly dangerous because of its “alarming cutting heights of 20 metres to 100 metres above ground level”.
Almost 10 days after the order, a dozen paramilitary personnel stand guard on the approach roads to the quarry, which are lined with out-of-service equipment such as trucks and backhoe loaders. Quarry holders and workers have blocked the highway that runs parallel to this area twice in protest against the ban.
“If someone tells you to leave your job overnight, what you will do?” asked Tariq Bashir, who owns a quarry in the belt. “First, we could not work because of the unrest. Now, we could have done good business due to the dry weather but they (government) have banned it.”
Fellow quarry holder Abdul Hameed, who is the third generation in his family to be in the business, agreed. Quarry work is all he knows to support his family. “My grandfather, too, was in this business; back then, we used to transport stones in boats,” he said. “Now, if the quarries are banned I won’t be able to support my family or my son’s education.”
Such a loss of livelihood affecting thousands is a serious matter. But the pressing concern over safety and the ecology also cannot be ignored.
Cascading effect
It isn’t just those directly involved in the quarrying business that have been affected. The ban has caused distress to an entire economic network built around the quarries – machine and truck spare part dealers, workshops involved in the maintenance of equipment, even tea stalls and restaurants in the area.
The quarries keep construction contractors in business. They supply stones to stone crusher units that, in turn, provide crushed stones to hot-mix plants for the macadamisation of roads. Quarry associations estimate that prior to the ban, over 1,000 truckloads of stones were supplied daily to much of central Kashmir and some areas in North and South Kashmir.
Javaid Ahmad Mir, president of the Chamber of Stone Crushers Association, Lasjan, said around 95 crushers got their supply from the quarries.
Mir Adil Farooq, executive director of the Jhelum Group of Companies and a member of the Chamber of Hot-Mix Plant Owners’ Association, reported a shortage of stones for “even current projects in the Valley, apart from those coming up”. He added that his company had taken up a project involving the four-laning of an important 7.5-km stretch of road from Shalteng to Narabal in the next season, but that this would not start if he failed to find another source from where to procure the required material.
Safety paramount
As a result of the ban, thousands of skilled and unskilled workers are out of jobs overnight – quarry holders say the communication on stopping work came to them verbally some months ago but no formal notice was ever sent.
Giving an idea of the workforce that has been affected, Mushtaq Ahmad Bhat, president of the United Quarry Association, said an estimated 220 quarries under this banner required close to 1,000 trucks, 200 mechanical excavators operated by two persons each, 50 compressor/drilling machines operated by four persons each, and additionally an average of four labourers per quarry.
Maqbool Parra, president of the Himalaya Quarry and Tipper Association, said another 200 quarries associated with them required 600 trucks, 100 mechanical excavators and 60-70 compressor/drilling machines.
“If we supply stones at construction sites, contractors hire masons and labourers for the construction work,” Parra said, explaining the cascading effect of the ban. “If we don’t, then they, too, will be unemployed.”
Bhat said the over four-month-long unrest in the Valley – triggered by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani by security forces on July 8 – had already caused an “economic disturbance that has broken the backs of the people” and the quarrying ban has only made things worse. “Mufti sahab’s [the late Mufti Mohammad Sayeed] policy was of a healing touch,” he added. “We request the government to use that and not snatch away our livelihoods.”
Defending the government’s decision, Shailendra Kumar, commissioner-secretary in the industries and commerce department, said that while people have the right to object, public safety is paramount. He added that those who had lost their jobs could work in the Zewan area, where quarrying is going on. Kumar also played down fears of a development slowdown as a result of the material crunch, saying, “Supply from Zewan area is sufficient to meet the requirements in Kashmir [Valley].”
Quarry holders, however, said relocation would take time. According to Tariq Bashir, to accommodate the out-of-work quarry holders in the Zewan area, “new quarries and approach roads need to be developed, which would take two years to three years”.
The quarry holders said they were not against relocating, but demanded that the government take care of their immediate needs by allowing them to extract the existing deposits. “Even if we don’t blast, there is enough loose material ready to be extracted for at least two years,” Bashir said.
Disaster in the making
However, those in favour of the ban said the ecological risks from quarrying in the area could no longer be overlooked. Decades of the activity has ravaged a large portion of the mountain where today there remains no sign of the slopes that once touched the main road. Where these slopes lay has transformed into an almost vertical wall, barely a kilometre from the road, with an open expanse littered with stones and concrete colonies lying in between.
Farooq Khan, director of the state’s geology and mining department, said the belt had been declared unsafe as the “quarries have gone up to a high altitude. No mining plan can be formulated as there is no scope for further mining”.
Shakil Romshoo, head of department at Kashmir University’s earth sciences department, said that while the loss of livelihood was a genuine concern, Kashmir’s seismic vulnerability also needed to be considered. A dormant fault or blasting could lead to a moderate earthquake, while quarrying further upwards could lead to disaster. “This entire hill will collapse at a great cost to human life,” he said. “The farther they go, its vulnerability will increase.”
Government official Shailendra Kumar said vested interests who have unduly benefited from the quarry were behind the forceful opposition to the ban. As obtaining an excavation licence does not cost much while the profits are way bigger, Kumar said the government would scan records of stones extracted by individual quarry holders.