Panchayats in Chhattisgarh lose rights over sand mining

Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel Wednesday said in the assembly that the rights of panchayats over sand mining will be withdrawn in the state.

Allocationof sand mining will now be managed by the state-owned Chhattisgarh Mineral Development Corporation (CMDC), he added.

Regular complaints of illegal sand mining and misuse of this system (control ofpPanchayats over sand mining) was coming to the fore.

Hence, this step is being taken to check large-scale illegal sand mining, Baghel said.

The chief minister made the announcement during a discussion on a call attention motion moved by Briahspat Singh (Congress) over recovery of penalty in the name of illegal sand mining and transportation in Balrampur-Ramanujganj district.

Baghel said though the state government is withdrawing control and management of sand mines from panchayats, these institutions will continue to receive royalty against sand mining.

The panchayats will be getting 25 per cent additional royalty, he added.

The new royalty will be calculated after taking out the mean of the royalty earned by a panchayat in the last five years, and to this amount 25 per cent hike will be added, he said.

For sand being transported to other states from Chhattisgarh, a higher rate of royalty will be fixed, Baghel added.