Jammu: To extract vast reserves of natural resources from Kargil district of the mountainous Ladakh region remains a distant dream due to the ‘apathetic’ approach adopted by the successive state governments.
Sources said the extraction of natural resources can be a ‘game-changer’ for inhabitants of the cold desert but successive regimes have not shown any inclination to evolve a mechanism to exploit these resources.
The department of geology and mining has established that there are 102.7 million cubic metres of world-class granite reserves in Kargil.
“Earlier, a process was initiated to auction the available reserves of natural resources but the Kargil Council had raised an objection so the same could not be materialised,” Farooq Khan, Director, department of geology and mining, said, adding that “we have initiated the process to float tenders again”. The Council, incidentally, had staked a claim on the resources.
Chairman of the J&K Legislative Council Haji Anayat Ali, who hails from Kargil, observed that the disagreement over the issue between the state government and the Council was trivial. “The real issue is the non-availability of infrastructure and experts in J&K to exploit such natural resources,” he said, adding that the state government must formulate a policy to invite private players from outside the state.
“The reserves of world-class granite and limestone available in Kargil can be extracted only with the help of those who have expertise in this field. The state government has to find a way out to involve ‘outsiders’ in this process,” he said.
In May this year, Ali had invited a private company from Pune to explore the possibility of extracting the natural resources. The company has the expertise and infrastructure needed for extraction of such reserves but due to disagreement over “outside” involvement the proposal didn’t get a go-ahead.
Sources said some groups had raked up the issue of ‘special status’ to object to the involvement of ‘outsiders’ in the extraction process. “Fearing a backlash, the state government had dragged its feet back,” a source said.
Untapped treasure
- 102.7 million cubic metres of granite reserves in Manjigund, Shilkchay, Channigund, Bhimbat and Kharbu areas of Kargil
- 36.97 million tonnes of limestone reserves in Matian, Drass and Mulbuk areas of Kargil
- In the light of the availability of enough reserves of limestone, there is a scope for establishment of a cement plant at Kargil
- These huge reserves of natural resources were detected 10 years ago
