Chandigarh : Leaders of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) have praised the decision of the Mann government of Punjab to amend the 2022 Punjab Sand and Gravel Mining policy. Party leaders said that this will eliminate the mining mafia and people will be able to get sand at affordable rates.
In this regard, AAP leaders Dr. Sunny Ahluwalia, Neel Garg, Safal Harpreet Singh, and Saaki Ali Khan held a press conference at the party office.
Addressing the media, Dr. Sunny Ahluwalia said that the new mining policy has been made to provide sand to the common man at even cheaper rates. Earlier, the difference between demand and supply was very large because of the way infrastructure development was happening in Punjab. People were saying that there should be changes in the mining policy.
Following that, the Punjab government held meetings with all stakeholders including builders, land crushers, and those connected to mining. Based on their feedback, the new policy was formulated. Ahluwalia said the most important aspect is that the entire process from start to finish in the policy has been fully digitized, eliminating any chances of corruption. Now, electric meters will indicate the quantity of sand on an hourly basis.
He said that earlier there were only two types of sites – one commercial site and the other public site. But the demand was so high that people used to mine even illegally as there was no monitoring system in place. Now, in the new policy, three more types of sites have been added.
The first is the “Land Crusher Mining Site,” under which crushers have now been allowed to carry out mining.
The second is the “Land Owner Mining Site,” under which if someone has land suitable for mining, they can now carry out mining themselves or get it done.
And the third is government land, where the custodians are the Deputy Commissioners of the respective districts. For such land, the DC will issue a No Objection Certificate (NOC), and then the concerned person or company can carry out mining as per the legal process. He said that earlier, such government lands were mined illegally in the darkness of night. That will no longer happen now.
Ahluwalia said that with the increase in such sites, the gap between demand and supply will reduce significantly or be eliminated altogether. This will ensure people get sufficient sand at cheaper prices, and the state treasury will also benefit as more sites mean increased revenue.
Criticizing opposition parties, Ahluwalia said that during the Akali government, the mining mafia had free rein, while under Captain Amarinder Singh’s government, 35 to 40 of his own MLAs and ministers were running the mining business. Captain even sent a report about this to his high command, but no action was ever taken. Now, Captain Amarinder Singh himself has joined the Bharatiya Janata Party, which is known for its ties with sand mafia across the country.
He said that in the previous government, the royalty for mining was kept at 70 paise per square foot, including gravel. The AAP government has increased this to Rs. 1.75 per square foot and Rs. 3.15 for gravel. This will increase the state’s revenue, reduce prices, and bridge the demand-supply gap.
AAP spokesperson Neel Garg said that under the Mann government, people are getting world-class education and free healthcare. He said that before the AAP government came to power, Punjab was ruled by mafias. There was hardly any area untouched by mafias. The state was dominated by the transport mafia, drug mafia, land mafia, and sand mafia. Since the Mann government came, all mafias have been curbed.
He said that the new mining policy brought by the AAP government is not a mafia policy, but a common man’s mining policy. This will reduce the gap between demand and supply. People will get cheap sand. Illegal mining will be curtailed. The government’s treasury will receive revenue, and monopolies will be dismantled.