Shawalian residents protest against installation of stone crushing plant. Despite a ban on cutting hills in Hazara division, the Department of Mines and Minerals Tuesday has started leasing the land for cutting mountains in the tourist areas of District Abbottabad.
The lease contract which permitted stone crushing would destroy the natural environment of the area in the guise of business opportunity, the locals said.
Residents of the village Banda Shawalian Datu of Union Council Dhamtoor staged a protest in front of the press club against the installation of crushing plants in the village.
While talking to media persons, the residents said that they would not allow anybody to build a stone-crushing plant in the area. If the department did not withdraw its lease grant, then they would go to court, they added.
They have demanded from the district and divisional administration and the provincial government to immediately stop this work and cancel the lease.
The protestors further said that Banda Shawalian has a population of more than five hundred, where there was a government primary and middle school and a large number of plantations of Watershed Forest Department.
The installation of the stone crushing plant would not only destroy the environment but also disturb the people by violating their fundamental rights, they said.
