E-Paper
Rebel AAP MLAs question tweaked mining policy
They alleged the state was staring at huge losses
Four rebel Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) MLAs, led by Kanwar Sandhu, have raised questions over the state government’s tweaked mining policy in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, alleging that the state was staring at huge losses. The other three legislators are Jagdev Singh Kamalu, Pirmal Singh Khalsa and Jagtar Singh Hissowal.
“If the interim policy announced on May 12 for the next one month is any indication, the state is set to suffer a monetary loss of more than Rs 150 crore,” Sandhu claimed, adding that the government must clarify to the people as to how much money had accrued to the state from mining since June 2019, when the auctions were done.
He claimed that under this, 196 quarries had been auctioned across seven blocks for Rs 306 crore a year (roughly Rs 25 crore per month). Sandhu claimed that now only 16 sites are being operationalised for a month against which a paltry sum of Rs 4.85 crore would come to the government.
Sandhu alleged that even as the state government was not being given any royalty and revenue on the plea of not environmental clearance, most quarries had started operating illegally.