After a three-year break, the Bihar government has initiated the process for regular settlement of ghats (banks) of all rivers for sand mining, officials said, a move that could ease the skyrocketing costs of construction in the state.
In August this year, the state cabinet had cleared a decision to double the royalty on sand mining to ₹150 per cubic metre.
In general guidelines issued to all the districts for settlement of ghats, the state’s mining and mineral department on Wednesday barred all those from the tendering process against whom cases of cognizable offences have been lodged. “All bidders or stakeholders of the firms must get character certificates issued by the district magistrates/superintendents of police or the subdivisional officers, certifying that they did not have any cases of cognizable offences lodged in the police,” according to the guidelines, which have been seen by HT.
Officials of the mining department said they are planning to go for settlement of ghats for mining for a period of five years, which was discontinued since 2019 due to string of litigations. “Regular settlement of ghats had been suspended due to the orders from National Green Tribunal (NGT). In its absence, the district authorities opted to extend the old leases, until the State Mining Corporation Limited stepped in to auction the ghats this year for three-month duration,” said a senior official of the department, who preferred not to be named.
On October 14, 2020, the NGT, acting on a plea filed by a Bihar resident, had ordered that the survey reports on ghats in each district must be prepared through consultants accredited by the National Accreditation Board of Education and Training/ Quality Control Council of India before they are auctioned for mining.
However, in November last year, the Supreme Court allowed the state government to carry on mining activities through the Bihar State Mining Corporation and laid down guidelines to be followed.
In the meantime, prices of red sand went up exorbitantly in the state because of suspension of mining and the resulting shortage.
“Supply of sand will become normal from the next month. District authorities have been directed to settle the ghats in their respective jurisdictions as per the conditions laid down by the department,” said an assistant director of the mining department, not wishing to be identified.
The conditions also stipulate that the bidders shall have no liability from any of the department or the state government agency. “They should not have been barred from any department or agency of the state and the central government. The successful bidders need to get environmental clearance from the authorities and procure no-objection from the state pollution control board on their own,” say the guidelines.
A section of contractors fear that settlement of ghats might suffer some procedural delays as the state government had launched a crackdown on illegal mining and lodged cases on those involved.
“As many as 212 raids were conducted in Patna alone during the months of April to July and 77 FIRs were lodged for illegal mining. A total of 41 persons were arrested, 572 vehicles were seized and a sum of around ₹49 crore was realised in penalties were realised,” said the officer quoted above.
Sand mining is a major revenue source for the Bihar government.
However, as pointed out by the Controller and Auditor General (CAG) reports, the mines department invariably fails to meet the target collection owing to illegal mining and irregularities in settlement of ghats.
The state government has this year set a target of around ₹2,000 crore in revenue collection from sand mining.
