Bhopal | Sept 05, 2017: Even as the Madhya Pradesh is seeking public support and advice to plan its new sand mining policy by the end of October this year, the draft prepared by the state mining department has overlooked ground realities like employment to labourers, action on middleman or hoarders and the transportation rates which could be arbitrary in the absence of stringent rules. The government had imposed ban on sand mining in May declaring that mining on Narmada riverbed will be stopped with immediate effect to save the environment. The government later formed a committee of experts to suggest measures to prevent ecological damage to the river, which is considered as the lifeline of the state.

However, the mining department said that September 5 was the last date for filing suggestions for the new mining policy and a final release will be decided after amendments. "There are some changes in the old policy. We have engaged panchayats and asked them to look into problems of labourers, self-help groups and transporters. We know that this might cause changes in the mining process and transportation cost, but it would not affect much as apprehended by some agencies. Still recommendations and suggestions by the experts and public representatives would be considered before releasing a final policy on sand mining," said state mining and industry minister Rajendra Shukla.

Under the restriction, government had imposed ban on use of machines for mining in all rivers across the state and instructed to impound vehicles involved in the mining process. The chief minister later announced that a new mining policy would be formed considering the situation of river eco-system in the state. For drafting a policy on sand harvesting and marketing, it was decided that human labour or machines will be used for sand harvesting, scientific methods would be adopted to set quantity of sand harvesting and serious efforts will be initiated to protect the ecology of rivers and its surrounding areas.

It was also suggested that quality of sand harvested from different sand mines located on the rivers will be decided and sand pricing policy will be framed on the basis of cost of sand mining from the river bed, including the expenditure on royalty, transportation and profit margin. But the draft policy has forgotten all major suggestions, including a guideline to safeguard the interests of local self-help groups and labourers, said sources.

"The final plan does not include a specific plan to generate employment for local people, which the chief minister had also emphasised during the deliberations. The plan also lacks stringent laws against middlemen and transporters who will take every possible benefit before supplying it to the end user. Without specific guidelines, expenses on mining and transportation would be very high'', sources added.

Now, the government has decided to give rights of sand mining and collecting royalty to panchayats who will also engage transporters and labourers to extract sand from their own resources. As per the new plan, transportation of 9.6 tonne of sand would cost Rs 5.21 per km, while for 16 tonne sand the buyer will have to bear an additional cost of Rs 4.27 per km and Rs 3.85 per km for 20 tonne. This would add 80% to 90% making it almost double the original cost of the sand. It has also been alleged that there is no check on the storage and supply of the sand which would encourage hoarders and sand mafia to capture the market demand. This would ultimately lead to blackmarketing and price rise. Government had also promised to install GPS and CCTVs at the mining sites and checking points which is still under consideration and not mentioned in the policy.

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