Punjab Industry and Commerce Minister Madan Mohan Mittal on Friday said that the Congress-led UPA Government was responsible for the acute paucity and consequent price rise of sand and gravel in Punjab.
In the garb of environmental clearance, the UPA Government is holding our mining sites for ransom. Mittal, in a statement, clarified that instead of blaming SAD-BJP Government for rise in prices of sand and gravel, Punjab Congress should ask its own Union Minister and leadership to clear the sites so that the availability of resources would increase and prices decrease.
Mittal said that the present situation had been intentionally created by the Centre to bring a bad name to the SAD-BJP Government of the State.
“Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has taken up the issue of clearance of mines before the Centre many times but Centre is stopping clearance to create mess for state Government due to upcoming lok Sabha elections,” he said.
lashing out at Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa, Mittal advised the Congress leader that instead of criticising Punjab Government, Bajwa should fulfill his duty towards the people of Punjab. He said that if Punjab Congress was indeed thoughtful about people of Punjab, it should pursue matter with its leadership for getting clearance of 4,000 acres of land for mining purpose.
If all these sites get clearance, Punjab would have surplus sand and gravel, which would lead to its easy availability and at cheaper rates, he said. Mittal informed that Union Ministry of Environment and Forests had been given list of 62 mining sites which cover area of 2500 acres for environmental clearance but the matter had been pending since January 2010.
“The Union Ministry is repeatedly raising unnecessary objections over clearance. Even the 17 mining sites cleared, covering 1561 acres of area, have not been transferred in the name of mining contractors. Hence work on these sites could not start,” he added. He said that the Chief Minister has personally met the Union Minister for Environment and Forests and requested for the clearance of these sites, but even his pleas have fallen on deaf ears.
“Even CM office and principal secretary industries have written thrice to the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests requesting for clearance but nothing has happened. The principal secretary industries has also written to the Union Ministry’s secretary requesting for transferring of 17 sites in name of contractors vide a letter written in September 2013 but no affirmative sign has been received by the State Government”, he added.