Ban on quarrying sends cost of building material soaring

Ravinder Sood

Palampur, July 25

The state government has failed to come out with a new mining policy in the state. There is a ban on illegal quarrying in state rivers, streams and specified mining areas. The prices of building material have touched a new height and residents have been forced to pay exorbitant prices for building material.

The state government at the behest of the HP High Court has ordered the closure of 60 per cent stone crushers which have added to the problems of residents. Presently, there is an acute shortage of building material in the state.

The building material such as sandstone, grit, and bazri was being ferried from Punjab and was being sold at very high rates.

The state government had a separate mining policy for big industrial houses as it had allowed extraction of limestone for four cement plants in the state.

But at the same time hundreds of small stone crushers have been shut down under the pretext of violation of environment norms.

Because of high cost of transportation, the value of building material has almost doubled. Information gathered by this correspondent revealed that 60 per cent stone crushers had already been closed in the state in the absence of renewal of lease of land and lack of environment clearances from the state government.

People of Palampur, Baijnath, Nagrota Bagwan and Paprola, who have been constructing residential houses, said earlier, they were getting 300 cubic feet of sand for Rs 5,500 but the same was available at Rs 11,000.

“Since there is a complete ban on all mining activities in the state, the cost of one tractor trailer of stones has gone to up Rs 1,400,” he added.

Residents of the various towns of the state said that before imposing a complete ban on the mining activities and cancellation of lease agreements of stone crushers, the state government should have made adequate arrangement for the supply of building material so that they were not harassed by paying double price.

A number of small scale industrial units dealing with the manufacturing cement blocks said in the absence of raw material, their units were facing closure.