Chandigarh, March 25
Encouraged by the success of its excise policy, which aimed at breaking monopoly, the Hooda Government in Haryana is likely to amend its mining policy also.
According to informed sources, the government wants to encourage competition in the mining business so that, on one hand, the state exchequer gains more and, on the other hand, the consumer has to pay less.
The Haryana Mining Department is likely to divide quarries into various zones and put them on auction separately. Small zones would encourage small players to compete with big players.
The Chautala Government had introduced monopoly in the mining business, particularly that of minor minerals, which include sand and stones. The government used to put the quarries and river beds of one district to auction as one lot. Since small players could not bid for the entire lot, the competition was virtually missing. Big players, egged on by politicians, would enter into a pool. They would even hold the Mining Department to ransom in the sense that if they found the reserve price to be too high, they would not bid nor would they allow others to bid. The department had to revise the reserve price downwards.
Since the department found it difficult to check evasion of royalty on minerals, it started auctioning the quarries on lumpsum basis. The successful bidders had to pay a specified amount to the department and they could take out as much quantity of minerals as they wanted. However, unchecked and uncontrolled mining led to ecological problems and erosion of river banks.
The quarries of Panchkula district alone are to go for auction in a couple of weeks. Hence the urgency to form the new policy. No other district is due for auction in the near future.
Till there was no judicial ban on mining in Faridabad and Gurgaon districts, there were not many takers for quarries of minor minerals in other districts. However, after the Supreme Court imposed the ban, the sand and stone quarries in the other districts, particularly in Panchkula, Ambala, Yamunanagar, Bhiwani and the other districts along the Yamuna river, became money-spinners.
These districts are playing a major role in meeting the demand of Delhi Metro. Part of the supplies come from Rajasthan also. The prices of minor minerals have gone up by five times in view of the monopoly as well as the growing demand of Delhi Metro in the past few years.
The sources say in most of the districts, antisocial elements supported by unscruplous officers in the district administration and politicians, set up unauthorised barriers outside mining zones. They used to charge hefty amount from each vehicle carrying minerals. These elements had no authority to do so. Hence, their extortion came to be known as “Goonda tax”, against which prominent leaders like Mr Bansi Lal, Mr Bhupinder Singh Hooda himself, Mr Dharamvir Singh and Mr Karan Singh Dalal, raised their voices in the Vidhan Sabha. But the ruling party ignored their protests for reasons best known to it.
