Admin must ensure survivability of artisans: NC

Srinagar, Nov 11: The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference Senior Leader and Former Speaker Mubarak Gul on Thursday stated that the percentage of urban poor has grown in Srinagar, saying the absence of any recovery measures to address the entrenched inequalities has compounded the crises.
Addressing a workers Convention of Eidgah constituency, Gul said the Shahar-e-Khas area of the Srinagar city particularly presents a grim picture of deprivations and inequities. “Unconsidered economic measures of the successive government’s post 2015, and the successive clampdown and Covid-19 induced lockdowns have also put a magnifying glass on the existing inequalities and poverty,” he said.
Most of the artisans in Srinagar, Gul said, are economically marginalized. “There have been reported cases of bankruptcy as many artisans have failed to repay the loans to the unfavorable market conditions induced by clampdown and successive lockdowns. Prevailing conditions are forcing many such artisans out of their age-old professions. Golden hands that would create artistic wonders are turning rusted as the government has failed to come forward to ease their suffering so far,” he said.
“Now that the city has been picked up by UNESCO as a part of its designated creative cities (UCCN), I hope that the concerned authorities, apart from recognizing creativity as a strategic factor in the urban development, will also work together with a common object to ensure the survivability of the centuries old sector,” he said adding, “ hefty burden of GST compliance had already decimated our artisans, it was sold as reform but years later, the plight of our artisans is telling a different story. As the families associated with the handicraft sector were still picking up against the tremendous odds, the clampdown of 2019, and successive COVID-19 induced lockdowns have further delayed their revival,” he said.
Necessitating upon the cogent mix of long-term and short-term measures to save the handicrafts sector and lakhs of families associated with it, he asked the government to procure the handicraft products from the artisans directly. He also sought loan waivers for the people associated with the sector.
Taking strong exception to housing of forces in hospitals and community halls, Gul said “The prime civic facilities, which were commissioned during NC, led successive governments, aiming to facilitate community interactions, marriages, building community bondage and thus contributing community development in urban areas,” he added.
Such centers, he maintained were constructed to assuage the hardships faced by Srinagar’s urban masses on account of space crunch. He further took strong exception to SMC’s silence over the issue.
Ruing the widespread development deficit in Eidgah constituency, Gul said the work on all major infra-projects in the constituency, which was initiated during his stint as MLA, has come to a grinding halt. “There has been no headway in the Palpura drainage and hospital project. The work on these projects was initiated during my stint as MLA, years have passed but the projects continue to remain far from completion,” he sighed.
Echoing the resentment of the people of Shahar-e-Khas over the pesky power supply, he said, “People are annoyed due to the pesky power supply. Unscheduled power cuts have become the norm of the day. Administration has failed to ensure adequate power supply to consumers,” he said.