The Shangla Mines Owners Association on Friday demanded that the government withdraw the proposed increase in the royalty taxes on mining that could cause economic murder of the people associated with the mining business in the district.
They raised the demand during a Friday news conference held at the Alpuri Press Club. The Presser was also attended by Shangla Coalmine Workers Association, Mulana Rahat Hussain, Abid Yar, Wali Muhammad, Shah Saud advocate and Pakistan Labourer Federation’s provincial president, Ali Bash Khan and Fazal Subhan.
They said such increases in the taxes would destroy the mining business and affect the labourer community, too, as hundreds of workers were associated with the mining work.
Wali Muhammad said they rejected the proposed tax increase on mines on behalf of the mines owners association and won’t pay a single penny but to close the mines across the district.
“We demand the government to withdraw the tax increase decision on leaseholders. It would increase our expenditure and directly affect the mining business and the entire connected community, which is already living below the poverty line,” He said.
He said the government should address the leaseholders’ grievances and help them boost the mining business, which helps the local people provide job opportunities.
Former senator Mulana Rahat Hussain said that the Malakand division was an exempted region and suffered due to natural disasters and terrorism that collapsed the area’s economy, and people had nothing to feed their families.
He said the government should lift the ban on different types of leases in Shangla so that many workers who work in the coalmines return to their hometowns and work at their doorstep and meet their ends.
Ali Bash Khan, provincial president of the Pakistan Labour Federation, said that the government had promised compensation for the 16 miners who had gone missing in 2011 from Dara Adam Khel and their remains found in 2021, but the compensation was yet to be paid.
He said the heirs of the miners had been visiting the relevant offices and the association’s office representatives but to no avail.
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