Amarinder promises lower sand, gravel prices

Chandigarh, April 1 : Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh on Saturday assured that the spike in sand and gravel prices, triggered by his government's crackdown on illegal mining, would get reversed as more legal mines become operational over the next few days.

"The Amarinder government has come down heavily on the mining mafia, which flourished during the erstwhile (Parkash Singh) Badal regime, initiating several measures to curb illegal mining in the state. This has led to a temporary spike in the price of sand and 'bajri' (gravel), with even the legally operated mines cutting down on production as a precautionary step, taking an excessively cautious approach in the face of the government action," a government spokesman said here.

The situation on the mining front was reviewed here on Saturday, at a meeting chaired by the Chief Minister and attended by Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rural Development Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa.

Officials of the Directorate of Mines, Department of Industries and Commerce made a detailed presentation on the mining situation in the state and the measures being taken by the department to check illegal mining and improve the supply situation.

The Chief Minister directed the officials that a new transparent mining policy should be formulated within 30 days and asked them to submit its draft for a further review.

The meeting discussed various measures to improve the supply situation, including an increase in the number of legal mines, deployment of modern digging techniques and stringent enforcement of rules to ensure that illegal mining becomes unviable, the spokesperson said.

The concerned officials told the Chief Minister that 59 mines were ready for auction while another 58 are awaiting environmental clearance and would be auctioned soon.