Chandigarh, April 4: The Punjab Government on Tuesday admitted before the Punjab and Haryana High Court that the supply of sand and gravel from legally auctioned mines was less than the market demand and the “gap was fuelling illegal mining to a large extent”.
Blaming the Centre, the State also told the Division Bench of Justice Ajay Kumar Mittal and Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal that it was in the process of granting contracts for 170 mines, besides expediting the process of identifying new mines.
As the case pertaining to illegal mining in Punjab came up for resumed hearing, the State placed before the Bench an affidavit by its geologist, Sushminder Singh.The affidavit said a comprehensive action plan, duly approved by the government, for the prevention of illegal mining had already been circulated among Deputy Commissioners and general manager-cum-mining officers for implementation and monitoring.
The Bench was also told that the department concerned had initiated the process of identifying areas where incidents of illegal mining occurred. After an appraisal of the site and its potential for mining, the department was taking expeditious action to notify and auction the mines to have a legal contractor in place.
It was also submitted that the State was not able to auction mines for more than 50 hectares after 2013 due to the situation arising out of the Centre’s refusal to process the case for environmental clearance.“It (State) could neither get environmental clearance for category-A mines from the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change despite best effects nor hold the auction of such mines as it would amount to contempt of court,” it was added.
The Bench was further told that the Supreme Court had now issued directions that “henceforth the project proponent, instead of the state government, shall obtain environmental clearance.”The state would now be able to “grant mineral concession of all mines, including bigger mines comprising area more than 50 hectares” and the project proponent would get environmental clearance from the competent authority.
The developments took place on a petition filed in 2012 by local resident Gurbir Singh Pannu, seeking an auction in a transparent and time-bound manner to curtail illegal mining. Directions were also sought to the Centre to decide pending clearances in three months.
Source Tribune India
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