Cabinet sub-committee submits report to Pb CM

The Cabinet sub-committee on sand mining, submitting its report to Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh on Monday, has recommended fixing of sand prices at Rs 1,000 per trolley, among other things. However, the Chief Minister has made it clear that the final decision on report would be taken by the Cabinet after studying it.

The Cabinet is scheduled to meet on Tuesday, which will be the first meeting after expansion. “Cabinet would deliberate on the suggestions made by the committee and take a final decision on the same,” said Capt Amarinder after receiving the report from the three-member panel head and the state Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Other members of the sub-committee are Finance Minister Manpreet Badal and Rural Development and Panchayat Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa.

Sidhu, after submitting the report, said that in the meetings held by the committee and the field visits, it was found that Punjab has stock of sand for coming 100 years and that of gravel for 170 years.

“The committee has recommended the fixation of prices of sand at Rs 1,000 per 100 cubic feet. One trolley has 100 cubic feet capacity weighing four tonnes,” he said.

Sidhu said that the cabinet sub-committee has found that earlier there was no price fixation for sand and the supply was also lacking, resulting in people getting sand at exorbitant prices owing to breaking of supply chain.

Keeping in view the existing deposits of sand and gravel, the cabinet sub-committee has recommended lowering of sand prices and going in for their fixation at a certain level. “There would be no dearth of supply with people getting sand at a fixed price which would be much less than the earlier price,” he added.

Sidhu further said that the sub-committee has found that the total length of all rivers in Punjab comes to 1150 kilometers (kms) with 500 metre (half km) width, and the total area is 575 square kilometre.

“As per the statistics of the Government of India, 32 lakh tonnes of sand can be mined from one square kilometre area having 10 feet depth. Similarly, in Punjab, a total of 184 crore tonnes of sand can be mined from the 575 square kilometre area,” he pointed.

He noted that the mining of sand every year from the rivers has led to more sand getting accumulated in them from the mountains. “The demand in Punjab of sand is two crore tonnes per year. That makes Punjab having an abundant stock of sand for next 91 years. And owing to the origin of rivers of Punjab from Himalayas, the quality of sand is far better than the sand mined from Godavari river,” he added.

Sidhu said that the committee, after touring the crushers to ascertain gravel stock, came to know that rocky dunes exist in 30 kms area in Kandi region with total area coming to 500 square kilometres.

“As per the Centre’s statistics, 30 feet depth in three square kilometer area can fulfill the demand of Punjab for a whole year and one crore tonnes gravel sand can be mined from 500 square kilometre area which has the potential to fulfill the demand for coming 170 years,” he said.