Extracting oil from sand” is a famous proverb of Hindi belt of India and on Thursday it is proved true at Hazaribagh in the auction of sand ghats. The sand, which was giving a little revenue to the Government, has yielded now handsome revenue amount this time. The ghat which had given Rs3.5 lakh last time was taken in auction in more than Rs1 crore this time.
The auction process took place in collectorate meeting hall as per the direction of DC Mukesh Kumar. In the start, DC Kumar himself remained present in the hall and after his departure the process was looked after by SDO SadarSandeep Kumar and SDO Barhis Singh.
The auction process which concluded on Thursday evening started amidst the protest of different people representatives of village local bodies. Most of them were advocating to give the power of auction of sand ghats to the panchayats where it is situated. They were also talking about the problems outsider will face after being successful in auction process.
The Mukhiya of Sarukudar, Uttam Kumar said that the ghats should be given to the local people because the roads to sand ghats pass through the personal lands of local villagers. They will not allow the vehicles of outsiders to pass through their land. The outsiders who are present here to purchase the ghats at high rates will certainly face problem at the sites.
Tilak Sao of Govindpurpanchayat said that the outsider will dig out sand keeping in mind his auction money which will result in deepening of the river bed. It will result in more soil erosion and less availability of water for irrigation. On one hand the Government in giving Indira Awash to villagers and on other hand it is preparing the base of its collapse because when the rate of sand will go up people will use less sand in making homes.
On the other hand, Government officials looked adamant to conclude the process. They tried to convince the village local body representatives that the process is going on as per the directives of State Government and order of honorable High Court. They also said that major portion of the revenue collected by this auction will go to the panchayats, only 20% will be kept at district level.
In the auction process mostly new faces remained dominant, old contractors or bidders had also applied but they left the field in midway when the rates started going up. As per talks more than 80% ghats of Hazaribagh district auctioned on Thursday have been taken by the traders of UP and Bihar.