Punjab mining and geology minister Gurmeet Singh Meet Hayer on Tuesday said the state government was all set to make 34 commercial mining clusters in the state operational to provide sand and gravel at economical prices to people.
“With the government operationalising these new commercial mining clusters, people will be able to get sand and gravel near their home,” he said. The Punjab government has set a target to operationalise 100 commercial clusters across the state. The minister said rates at commercial mining clusters would be capped at Rs 5.5 per cubic foot.
The minister said the auction process of 22 mining clusters with approximate capacity of 102 lakh metric tonne (LMT) had been completed and auction of the remaining 12 mining clusters with capacity of 21 LMT was under process. He directed all district mining officers to complete formalities at the earliest. The minister was chairing a review meeting of the mines and geology department here.
There are 60 public mining sites in the state. The minister directed field officers to ensure fair practices at the sites. Also ensure that if any labour was coming from out of village area, they were not stopped by the locals and if any person or customer was carrying his own labour, they were not stopped either, and that monopolisation should be dealt with strictly.
Ensure regular inspection by district mining officers concerned of the public mining sites in their jurisdiction, he added. The mining officers were also directed to earmark the agriculture mining sites for ensuring availability of sand to the general public.