Hindustan Salts Ltd, a central public sector enterprise, today requested the Himachal Pradesh government to provide surplus land on lease for further processing and increasing 'rock salt' output in Drang, Mandi. Hindustan Salts chairman and managing director S P Bansal called on state chief minister Jai Ram Thakur in Mandi and put forth his demand for surplus land.
Drang in Mandi is famous for the best mines of rock salt -- also known as 'Gumma salt' in local parlance -- in India after Pakistan and Afghanistan. These mines were started in May 1963 and closed in January 15, 2011, due to non-forest clearance from the environment and forest ministry and non-deposit of royalty by the company. However, after re-commissioning in March 2016, the rock salt mine was extracting around 1,500 metric tonnes of salt every year from Maigal, Darang and Gumma mines. The mine has had 58 million tonnes of total deposits used for animal lick and used by locals for various applications and getting relief from sore pains. The company got clearance from the Ministry of Forest and Environment (MoEF) for setting up a plant for the extraction of rock salt at a cost of Rs 300 crore. Besides being a point of tourist attraction, the rock salt mines when fully commissioned will provide employment to around more than 2,000 youth. The chief minister asked the deputy commissioner, Mandi to look into the issue of land so that Himachal rock salt could make its mark in the international market as well. He said that Member of Parliament Ram Swaroop Sharma also took keen interest to get these mines to restart. The CMD also presented a memento of rock salt to the chief minister.
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