Punjab Govt mulls decontrolling mining biz

Ruchika M Khanna
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, March 13

The Congress government is looking at ways to decontrol the sand mining business and to come clean on allegations of being hand in glove with the “sand mafia”.

Cut in electricity duty on cards

The cash-strapped state government can take another major hit on its finances, as it mulls reducing electricity duty on power tariff. At present, electricity duty of 20%, including cess, is charged from consumers. Considering that a second power tariff hike in a year had to be effected from January, and yet another is expected on April 1, when the new tariff order comes into effect, the government is thinking of reducing electricity duty for domestic consumers.

With sand prices remaining stable, the state government hopes to take a moral high ground by decontrolling the business and confront the Opposition who has been criticising Congress MLAs for their “overt and covert support” to sand contractors.

For decontrolling the business, the government needs to pay off Rs300 crore to the contractors, a majority of who were allotted sand and gravel quarries in October last year. As senior officers look at several options, they fear that decontrolling the business will not only raise the price of sand and gravel, but also pose danger to the environment.

The state has been divided into seven blocks for mining of minor minerals (sand and gravel). Of the 191 quarries auctioned off in October 2019, 45 are operational as they have the environmental clearance.

The mining business across the state is controlled by two contactors — one based in Jammu and other in Rajasthan.

Many in the power circles believe that there is no reason to decontrol the business, especially when sand and gravel prices are stable. Sources in the trade say Congress leaders are unhappy because they have been left out of the trade; they are mounting pressure on the government to decontrol the mining business.

In case, the government decontrols the business, as is expected in the coming week, those wanting to legally extract sand and gravel will have to fulfil certain requirements, including demarcation of a quarry site, getting a mining plan approved and then getting the environment clearance from the State Level Environment Impact Assessment Authority. Subsequently, contractors can start mining without paying royalty to the state government.

“Decontrolling the sand mining business doesn’t mean that anyone can extract sand and gravel from anywhere they please. We hope that decontrolling will help stop illegal mining,” a senior officer said.