Chandigarh, April 4: Sand prices have more than doubled in the state in the past month amid a crackdown on illegal mining. The mining of sand and gravel has come to a grinding halt.The rates of sand have shot up from Rs 1,200-1,400 per 100 cubic ft to Rs 3,000-3,800.
The prices of aggregate (mixture of sand and gravel) have risen to Rs 2,100-4,200 per 100 cubic ft from Rs 900-2,300 last month. Manjit Singh Dalla, a realtor based in Gurdaspur, said the government must control the prices.
Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh had ordered the crackdown after spotting heavy machinery being used for mining on the Sutlej riverbed on March 6.
Senior officers in the newly created Mining Department said the police and civil administration had gone into an overdrive and stopped all mining operations with excavators and chain-mounted excavators.
Sources in the mining trade and the department admitted that the administration had stopped mining even in legally auctioned quarries, where environment clearance had been obtained for operating the excavators (capacity of 0.9 to 1.1 cubic metre).
Mining contractors told The Tribune that special nakas were being laid to check all trucks carrying minor minerals. In Ropar, eight such nakas were spotted on Tuesday. Contractors of legal quarries said they had suspended mining operations. The rates are high now as the minor minerals are being transported from the neighbouring states of Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Jammu and Kashmir.
About 4,000 tonnes of minor minerals, required by the Bathinda refinery last month, were sourced from Yamunanagar (Haryana) and brought in a special train.Enquiries made by The Tribune revealed that the administration as well as the police were prohibiting the use of excavators for lifting sand, removed during desilting of water channels (canals and rivulets).
Officials said instructions had been issued to allow excavators for lifting minor minerals for road projects, construction of national highways and desilting of sand. “We will enforce these directions,” a senior officer said.
The department is set to auction 170 quarries (area less than 50 hectares) within the next two weeks. “This will help pump in more material in the market, and thus bring down the prices of sand and gravel. This is also the first time that the successful bidders will take environmental clearance for the quarries after the auction,” an officer said.
Source Tribune India
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