Question hour: Limestone mining lease given to UltraTech for 50 years, says HP industries minister
A limestone mining lease and 324.479 hectare land have been allotted in the favour of the company by the state government for 50 years, industries minister Harshwardhan Chauhan said in a written reply to a question raised by BJP’s Sulah MLA Vipin Singh Parmar
Industries minister Harshwardhan Chauhan on Tuesday informed the House that UltraTech Cement company has put in place elaborate arrangements for environmental protection, including electrostatic precipitators and online monitoring equipment, in its plant at Bagha village of Solan.
The cement plant started production on February 24, 2010, and produces about 5,000 MT cement per day, Chauhan said in a written reply to a question raised by BJP’s Sulah MLA Vipin Singh Parmar.
A limestone mining lease and 324.479 hectare land have been allotted in the favour of the company by the state government for 50 years, he added.
Public works minister Vikramaditya Singh said there is no state highway in Himachal Pradesh as all such highways were denotified and renamed as major district roads (MDRs).
“Presently, 2,419 bridges have been built on MDRs and rural roads in the state and their regular inspection and maintenance work is done from time to time as per the requirement,” he said during the question hour while responding to a query raised by Bharmour MLA Janak Raj. Vikramaditya said in the PWD has spent ₹9.47 crore on the maintenance of bridges.
The Asian Development Bank has approved a detailed project report of ₹32.85 crore for the beautification and parking at Jawalamukhi town and a tender of ₹32.51 crore has been awarded, chief minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu informed the House. He was replying to a question asked by Jawalamukhi MLA Sanjay Rattan.
In reply to another question asked by BJP’s Nachan MLA Vinod Kumar, the chief minister said that due to non-completion of construction of Shiv Dham in Mandi town within the given deadline, the contract for the work was cancelled on January 18.
He said the tender process has to be done again and construction of Shiv Dham will be completed within one year after the award of tender. The CM said that the project was to be completed in two phases.
In the first phase, he said, construction of RCC structures of replicas of 12 Jyotirlinga and roads is proposed for which the tourism department has prepared an estimate of ₹40 crore. The amount was sanctioned by the tourism development corporation under ‘Nai Raahein Nai Manzilein’ scheme, he added.
He said that the construction of RCC structure of Tryambkeshwar, Omkareshwar, Bhimashankar and Kashi Vishwanath has been completed. Construction of other RCC structure of other Jyotirlinga has reached different stages.
