State Government has been losing revenue worth crores on daily basis since October 1 as e-dispatch system has not been implemented for mining of minerals from the riverbeds areas. Officials have attributed things to faulty software. Earlier, manual dispatch system was being followed by the department.
Critics opine that the State has been incurring huge loss of revenue due to the apathy of the officials concerned. Had the Government officials completed ground work before going for electronic e-dispatch, things would not have come to such a sorry pass, they say.
Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation’s divisional logging manager MM lal said that on trial basis, e-dispatch system will be implemented from Majri, Jakhan from Friday.
He said that the State Government has released a Government order on the implementation of e-dispatch system for mining of minerals from the riverbeds areas from October 1.
In place of manual dispatch system, e-dispatch system was introduced to check corruption. Computer, power generator and other related necessary equipment were provided at the office near the riverbeds for its implementation. However, it could not start due to error in software, he said, adding that senior level officers are working hard to implement e-dispatch system at the earliest.
Observers say that the mining business provides employment opportunities to thousands of people in the hill State.
Uttarakhand Forest Development Corporation (UFDC), Garhwal Mandal Vikas Nigam (GMVN) and Kumaon Mandal Vikas Nigam (KMVN) are the three government agencies entrusted to carry out mining.
Due to the strict environment norms and court orders, the river-bed mining had been virtually banned in forest and other areas in 2010-11. Following the ban, the prices of construction materials had gone up considerably which put lot of pressure in the construction business.