The Bombay high court lifted its stay on sand mining in October 2010. However, the government has not framed a policy to auction sand mines.
In the past one year, the state government lost revenue up to Rs800 crore, as it has not been able to auction sand mines and issue licences for mining.
The Bombay high court lifted its stay on sand mining in October 2010. However, the government has not framed a policy to auction sand mines.
Revenue department officials said that the government lost Rs800 crore, as the auctions did not take place last year. This has also led to an increase in illegal sand mining in the state.
A senior official said, “After the court disallowed auctioning of sand mines, there are no legal options left to meet the sand requirement. In the absence of auctioning, there is a wide gap between the demand and supply, resulting in individuals and groups using illegal mining.”
A senior cabinet minister in the Congress said, “The cabinet needs to revisit the sand mining problem. It has to find a solution to the dwindling revenue and also to the issue of illegal sand miners in the state.”
Highly placed sources in the government said, “The sand mafia has managed to overpower the district administration because of restrictions on issuing licences through auctions.” In the past two months, there have been almost a dozen instances of illegal mining in the state. What has also hindered the administration is that the sand mafia often has the patronage of local politicians or other influential people.
Senior BJP leader Madhav Bhandari said, “Images of illegal sand mining in home minister RR Patil’s constituency of Tasgaon in Sangli have been shown on TV news channels. It is difficult to believe that illegal miners can take such extreme steps without his knowledge. If he claims ignorance, it is all the more shocking.”
In the absence of auctioning of sandmines, major construction activities in the city are using sand imported from Pakistan, sources revealed. The sand, which is in abundance in Pakistan, is cheaper than that in India. If 4,000kg of sand costs Rs1,000 to Rs1,200 in the domestic market, the same amount imported from Pakistan costs Rs400 to Rs600.
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