Chandigarh, March 8: Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh today decided during the Cabinet meeting to form a sub-committee to suggest ways and means to end the menace of illegal mining in the state.
The three-member Cabinet sub-committee, headed by Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and comprising Rural Development and Panchayats Minister Tript Rajinder Bajwa and Finance Minister Manpreet Singh Badal, will study the entire issue, suggest ways and means to curb illegal mining, including plugging loopholes in the mining policy.
The move follows crackdown ordered by the Chief Minister on illegal mining in Nawanshahr and Jalandhar districts after he yesterday spotted “unauthorised” activity on the Sutlej riverbed on his way to Kartarpur in a helicopter.
To send across a stern message, Capt Amarinder also decided to convene a meeting of the deputy commissioners, senior superintendents of police (SSPs) and mining officers of nearly 11 districts, where complaints related to illegal mining activity are rampant, tomorrow.
Earlier, during the pre-Budget meeting with the legislators, there was an increasing chorus among a section of the legislators to act firmly against those having direct and indirect stakes in the mining business. Some of the MLAs even went to the extent of decontrolling the sand and gravel mining.
Nawanshahar legislator Anagad Saini and some other MLAs demanded that those behind the illegal activity and those providing the JCBs and porcelain machines should be brought to book.
Other Decisions
- Affordable housing policy, 2018, approved to facilitate affordable housing for lower income groups, thereby checking the mushrooming of unauthorised colonies.
- A sub-committee on illegal encroachments on lands of Rural Development and Local Bodies Department formed.
- Approval was given to the revival of 305 posts of warders and 20 posts of assistant superintendents in the Jail Department.
- Nod to appoint Everest summiteer Prithvi Singh Chahal as a DSP in the police as a special case. A decision to offer a government job to Asian gold medalist wrestler Navjot Kaur and Rs 5 lakh to her was also taken.
- The fees for various services rendered by the Punjab Electrical Inspectorate have been revised.
Source Tribune India
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