Move can have disastrous impact: Hakeem Yaseen

Srinagar, Dec 31: Chairman Peoples Democratic Front (PDF) Hakeem Muhammad Yaseen has cautioned the government against “disastrous impact” of the proposal of the administration to acquire 4,900 kanals of prime agriculture land at Newa in Pulwama for the purpose of shifting NIT, Srinagar.

In a statement, he said that the move would be a big disaster both for environmental sustainability and local livelihoods.

Hakeem Yaseen said the move would be a total destruction of agriculture and rural livelihoods. He said Srinagar’s present NIT complex is sufficient, adding that the Pulwama farmland should be spared for the sake of posterity.

He said while development of infrastructure was important for prosperity but it should not be at the cost of livelihood of the people and ecology of the habitations. He said the fertile Karewa lands, proposed for new NIT, is a hub of modern high-density horticulture activities , supporting livelihoods of hundreds of families and needs to be spared exclusively for the agriculture purposes. He said the proposed takeover of 4,900 kanals of land for new NIT would not only block agriculture activities but would displace hundreds of families and put them to a severe economic distress.