The mineral mine leaseholders have expressed serious concerns over the revival of mine and mineral blocks policy in district Chital.
Speaking during an emergency meeting of the mineral mine leaseholders under the chair of Prine Reza-ul-Mulk here on Wednesday, the stakeholders were of the view that the poor businessmen of Chitral could hardly climb the mountains without any government help to explore the mines of various minerals, but when they applied for its lease after so much hard work.
They said that the Minerals Department and the concerned agencies reject their applications and want to issue the lease of these mines to the people of their choice. The landlords also staged a peaceful protest and chanted slogans block policy.
Talking to media persons on the occasion, Prince Mudassir-ul-Mulk said the provincial government had closed 80% of Chitral’s mineral rich area by dividing it into 15 different competitive reserve blocks. The purpose was to provide these plots to foreign investors through auction on a large scale.
He said that during last 13 years, the provincial government and the Minerals Department have offered to lease to local and foreign investors on a collage scale at various forums, but no one showed interest. Finally, on July 2021, at the request of the people, the provincial government removed these blocks and provided the facility to apply online.
This decision was highly hailed by the people. Exploration licenses were offered to local and foreign investors on small and large scale. As a result, about 500 investors applied for small scale prospecting licenses and many foreign and local companies applied for large scale exploration licenses.
