Litter Pulwama residents demand shifting of proposed Railway line
Pulwama: The residents of Litter area of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district have demanded the shifting of the proposed Awantipora-Shopian railway line alleging that the move will render hundreds of families landless.
The residents of the area said that the government must either shift the proposed railway line or should avoid constructing it as the project will leave hundreds of families landless.
Abdul Gani Bhat, a farmer from Litter said he along with dozens of families has been sowing different types of vegetables on their small land for centuries to earn their livelihood.
He said that from last several years, they have adapted green house and other technologies to earn their livelihood and these practices have doubled their income.
He said that if railway line will be taken through the area, it will leave them landless and they will die of starvation.
Ghulam Hassan, another local said that most of the people in the village are dependent on their agriculture and horticulture land for their livelihood and if the railway line will be constructed, it will snatch their livelihood.
He said they don’t need projects that will snatch their livelihood and even many people will become homeless as well.
Locals said that before approving such projects the government must take local people into confidence.
They said that people will lose their land on which they are solely dependent, therefore the project if executed will push them towards starvation.
Earlier the residents of Bandhna Pulwama and Reshipora and Pahnoo area of Shopian staged protests and demanded the project shouldn’t be taken up or shifted to the other side.
