The Pradesh Congress Committee has blamed the State Government of failing to have a long-term vision and for being unable to effectively advocate its stand in the High Court regarding its recent order banning all mining activities in the State for a period of four months.

Issuing this statement, the PCC vice president Jot Singh Bisht said that the State Government did not present its stand strongly in the said public interest litigation filed in the high court of Uttarakhand in Nainital.

Due to this, the high court had to take this type of decision, opined Bisht.

The PCC vice president said, “After the four-month closure period, for about two and half months the mining activities remain affected as it is during the rainy season. In a state with difficult geographical terrain like Uttarakhand, if mining work is not undertaken for such a long period then the state will also have to face various repercussions. In 24 hours of the high court decision, the cost of quarried construction material has more than doubled in Dehradun and other parts of the state. This will in turn increase the cost of construction of both government and private buildings while at the same time the state will bear the loss of a considerable amount of revenue.”

He further said, “In Uttarakhand, the conditions remain conducive for speedy construction work mainly from the month of March to July. After this the rainfall and snowfall make construction difficult to undertake especially in the mountainous regions. The wheel of development works might get stalled if quarried material is not made available during this four-month period for construction of development projects.

“This will not only result in increased cost of construction works but will also exert a detrimental effect on the labourer class working in quarrying and construction works who will be rendered unemployed,” said the PCC vice president.

Bisht also said that the state government had started its term in office by increasing the rates of electricity along with hiking the rates of sewerage and potable water facilities which is affecting the general public already struggling with price rise.