Govt told to provide space to crushing plants

The Supreme Court (SC) has directed the Balochistan government to provide space within one month to the stone crushing plants.

A three-member bench, headed by Chief Justice of Pakistan Umar Ata Bandial, heard the case regarding transfer of Quetta’s stone crushing plants.

During the hearing, the court said that if space was not allocated for crushing within one month, the chief secretary should appear before the court and apprise the bench of the reasons.

Justice Ayesha Malik said that at the previous hearing, the court had asked to notify wildlife parks, but the provincial government was neither notifying land for the park nor it was allocating alternate land to the stone crushing plants.

The Balochistan additional advocate general requested the court to give them time to call the crushers and resolve the issue.

Justice Ayesha said that the crushing plant owners had been waiting for years and the matter had not yet been resolved.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 13^th, 2023.