CHITRAL: The residents of Chitral have complained that about 600 applications for prospecting licences for exploration of mines and minerals in the district have been consigned to cold storage by minerals development department.

The president of Chitral Association of Miners, Shahzada Mudassirul Mulk, told journalists here the other day that on the invitation of the department, seeking online applications for different metallic and non-metallic minerals in Chitral two years ago, 600 persons applied for different sites after fulfilling formalities including depositing a fee of Rs60,000.

Flanked by other members of the association, he said that each applicant also invested a huge sum of money in survey of sites with the help of geologists and othertechnical persons to ascertain the presence and approximated quantity of minerals as well as geographical co-ordinates of the sites as it was a prerequisite.Mr Mulk alleged that the department duped the local applicants as it imposed a ban on issuance of licences for indefinite period. Later, the officials of directorate general office of mines and minerals provided those information to nonlocals of their choice and gave them a chance to apply for licences, he added.

He said that due to the resistance offered by the local applicants including securing stay order from the court, the department delayed issuance of licences to non-locals for a year. `Now it has sought fresh online applications despite the presence of our applications approved by the technical committee,` he added.

Mr Mulk regretted that formation of large-size blocks for minerals spanning vast area was also on the cards for which huge investment was required and hardly any local aspirant would qualify for it.

`Efforts are being made by those in the helm of the affairs to oustlocal people from the race of competition to get a licence to explore the mines and minerals in their district,` he said.