Lucknow | April 25, 2017: In a bid to check the spiralling prices of sand and other building materials by bridging the gap between their demand and supply, the UP government has decided to allow short-term mining permit through e-tendering process. Additional chief secretary Raj Pratap Singh said that the short-term permit would have to be sanctioned by the district magistrate.

The short-term permit to be given for a period of six months would not be applicable in places where courts have stayed the mining operation, the additional chief secretary said. He also clarified that there would be no mining during monsoon session between July 1 and September 30.

Land suitable for mining would be identified by a committee to be formed by the DMs. The committee would have mining officer and mining inspectors as its members. Before advertising about the mining land, the concerned DMs would have to take an NOC from the forest department.

Interestingly, the government decision came after the prices of building material specially sand and 'maurang' sky-rocketed, virtually halting construction work in the state. With financial year 2016-17 coming to an end on March 31 and Yogi government yet to formulate a new mining policy, the need to fulfil demand for building material had resulted in prices of building material going North.

The decision of the Mining Department is likely to bring some relief to consumers.

(Source: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/)