Will move privilege motion against Joshi on mining policy, says Jakhar
Thursday, 17/01/2013
http://www.tribuneindia.com/2013/20130117/punjab.htm#6
Chandigarh : The state Congress will move a privilege motion against Industries Minister Anil Joshi in the ensuing Budget session of the Punjab assembly for "misguiding" the House on making sand and gravel available in the state at affordable rates by August 15, 2012.
In a statement here, CLP Leader Sunil Jakhar said contrary to what Joshi and Parliamentary Affairs minister Madan Mohan Mittal had promised on the floor of the House during the assembly session in June 2012, the building materials were still selling at exorbitant rates. He said the government had also failed to come out with a pro-people mining policy.
Jakhar said the State Industry Department had auctioned 22 sand quarries across the state for Rs 335 crore against the reserve price of Rs 4 crore. He said this disproportionate jump would make sand, the basic raw material for construction, available at a high cost. "It will completely halt the construction activities across the state and add to the unemployment of rural poor, who earn livelihood by doing labour jobs in lean non-harvesting and non-sowing seasons", the CLP leader said.
Jakha said ironically successful bidder for only seven out of 22 quarries auctioned had been able to deposit the 50 per cent amount and the remaining had presumably gone into willful default. He said the sand mafia would now indulge in exploitation of quarries and the government would lose out on revenue.
The CLP leader said Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal had personally assured that sand prices would come down and the state would put a cap on the prices of sand and gravel. But the government had given a freehand to the contractors in terms of fixing the prices of mining produce.
He said it was high time the Chief Minister intervened and quashed the auction which abetted monopolisation by sand mafia and put in place a policy to ensure that building material was available to the public at affordable prices.
