PNS/
To provide sand or gravel at economical prices to the people of the state, Punjab Government is all set to make operational 34 commercial mining clusters in the state.
Announcing this, the state Mining and Geology Minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Tuesday said: “With the operationalizing of these new commercial mining clusters in the state, people will be able to get sand or gravel nearest to their homes,” he said, adding that the Government has a target to operationalize 100 commercial clusters in the state.
The Minister, chairing a review meeting of the Mines and Geology Department to take stock of the present public mining sites in the state, said that the rates at commercial mining clusters will be capped at Rs 5.50 per cubic feet, which is being charged at public mining sites.
Informing that the action process of these 22 mining clusters – having quantity approximately 102 lakhs metric tonne (LMT) has been completed; and auction of 12 mining clusters – having quantity 21 LMT is under process, the Minister directed all concerned DMOs to complete all the formalities at the earliest.
As of now, there are 60 public mining sites in the state.
Hayer directed the field officers to ensure fair practices at public mining sites; field officers shall ensure that if any labour coming from out of village area, they shall not be stopped by the locals; and if any person or customer is carrying his own labour, those shall not be stopped by the locals; and monopoly of any person at site should be dealt with strictly. He also asked the concerned officials to ensure regular inspection by concerned DMOs of the public mining sites in their jurisdiction.
Keeping in view the upcoming monsoon season, all DMOs were directed to earmark the agriculture mining sites for ensuring availability of sand to the general public.
Meanwhile, the Minister also reviewed the action taken against the illegal mining by the field offices. All DMOs were directed to strictly deal with illegal mining and FIR or challan should be registered against the defaulters.