: The Punjab mining department has terminated the contract of Mohali sand mining cluster after the contractor failed to deposit the security amount to the tune of ₹ 8 crore.
Rejecting the contractor’s plea that there was not sufficient material available in the mining areas allotted, the department terminated the contract of the Mohali cluster, which was already suspended for non-payment of fee instalments.
The cluster includes mining sites in Mohali, Patiala and Fatehgarh Sahib districts.
A fortnight ago, the state government had suspended the sand mining contract in Ropar (the hub of sand and gravel mining) cluster, while terminating the contracts of Ferozepur and Amritsar clusters.
The department has, however, resumed the contract of Ropar cluster after the contractor agreed to pay the balance fee amount.
“The contract period till March was pending, so we allowed them to resume work as per the government condition that no illegal mining will be allowed,” said an officer on the condition of anonymity.
Department to float fresh tenders
{{/usCountry}}Department to float fresh tenders
{{/usCountry}}The mining department has decided to call fresh tenders for the terminated clusters, and before that it plans to auction four mining sites. These are three sites in Ferozepur district and one in Amritsar, for which the last date for sending bids have been fixed for May 17.
At these sites, the department has decided to carry out mining under its direct supervision as a pilot involving the contractors for excavation and selling sand at a rate of ₹ 5.5 per cubic feet.
Punjab is divided into seven sand mining clusters and there are 205 mining sites across the state.
The Aam Aadmi Party government in the state has tightened noose around the unscrupulous contractors and has asked its executive engineers and district mining officers to identify new sites for sand excavation, so that there is no overlap with the sites allotted to contractors who are under the government lens. The four new sites put under the hammer are part of the new plan.
Punjab’s daily sand requirement
Punjab’s daily sand requirement is one lakh tonnes, as according to the department officials, who were not willing to be quoted, 88,000 tonnes is being excavated and sold to the house builder. It needs mention that due to termination of contracts, the supply is scanty leading to sharp increase in sand prices.
The quantum of sand can be judged from the fact that each truck carried atleast 1,000 cubic feet of sand which is equivalent to 40 tonnes.
Order sand through mobile APP
The department is working on a mobile phone application to order sand online.
“The app will be ready shortly on which sand can be booked at the nearest location, an invoice will be generated and payment can also be made through the application,” said a top officer of the mining department, adding that payment to the contractor will be cleared once the buyer is satisfied.