To minimise royalty losses, govt to check misuse of transit passes in transportation of minerals

The state government will evolve a mechanism to check corrupt practices associated with the misuse of transit passes for the transportation of minerals to prevent royalty losses.

Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu gave these directions while presiding over a meeting of the Industries Department here today. He expressed concern over reports indicating the use of fake transit passes on multiple occasions for mineral transportation, resulting in a significant royalty loss to the state exchequer.

To address the problem, the state government had earlier introduced Rule 81A, which mandates a deduction of Rs 80 as royalty and Rs 20 as penalty per tonne from panchayats and other executing agencies undertaking development works, in case transit passes were not available. However, the High Court of Himachal Pradesh had stayed the implementation of Rule 81A and the matter was scheduled for hearing on April 25.

The Chief Minister instructed the Industries department to explore all possible solutions and alternatives to ensure timely execution of development works. A delegation of representatives of Panchayati Raj Institutions also met the Chief Minister on Tuesday and urged him to address the issue.

Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, Additional Chief Secretary KK Pant, Advocate General Anup Rattan, Secretary (Law) Sharad Kumar Lagwal and Director Industries Yunus attended the meeting.