- विज्ञापन -
Shimla: The Himachal government has given final notice to 231 mining sites allotted in the state since 2016. The state had a total of 232 sites for auction. Out of these, only one mining lease in the Yamuna River had received FCA clearance, Forest Conservation Act 1980 clearance. In the remaining 231 cases, the FCA cases have not been cleared by the Government of India. The state government is supposed to earn Rs 103 crore from these 232 sites, but despite allotment, this revenue is not coming due to a lack of FCA clearance.
Industry Minister Harsh Vardhan Singh Chauhan said that all these mining leases have been given a final six-month notice. They have been told to get FCA clearance within these six months; otherwise, this allotment will be cancelled and an auction will be held again. Since 2016, allotment has been done for 232 sites, and the state government has also taken 25% of the amount for this. If FCI clearance is not done in the last six months, then this 25% amount will also be confiscated.
The state government will also make changes to the process before conducting a new auction. The Industry Minister said that giving small leases is also creating problems in clearance, so action will be taken on a larger area by merging. The Industry Minister said that the work of dredging in Manali and Kullu in the Beas River has now been given to the Forest Corporation instead of the Mining Department or the Administration.
Now the auction for any kind of mining will be done through the Forest Corporation only. It is worth noting that the dredging work that started in this region of Kullu, Manali, after the request of NHAI had gone in some other direction. In a letter sent to the state government, NHAI has also said that the material that was lifted from the Beas River in the name of dredging is not at the places where it was asked to be deposited. After all these controversies, the state government has now shifted this work to the Forest Corporation.
Parliamentary Affairs Minister Harsh Vardhan Chauhan said that in the states where elections are held, ED and Income Tax department officials come like guests. Similarly, ED and income tax officials came during the three by-elections in the state. Talking to journalists in his office in the Secretariat, he said that the BJP’s agenda at the national level has been to destabilize the non-BJP government, but the BJP should assume that the results of the three by-elections will be in favour of Congress and that the number of MLAs of the ruling Congress will increase from 38 to 41. Answering the question raised by Leader of Opposition Jairam Thakur about the Sukhu government, Harsh Vardhan Chauhan said that Sukhwinder Singh Sukhu was the Chief Minister, is the Chief Minister, and Sukhu will remain the Chief Minister in the future too.
