CHANDIGARH : Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh has directed the Cabinet Sub-Committee on Mining to expedite its report on the much-needed reforms in the business, while ordering the Mining Department to take urgent steps to ensure that all legal mines function to full capacity in order to control the escalating prices of sand.

The Chief Minister issued the orders during a meeting with the Departments of Mining and Water Resources, as well as the three-member sub-committee set up last month to review the Mining Policy and suggest ways of making it more effective and stringent.

Besides the sub-committee members, Local Government Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu and Rural Development & Panchayats Minister Tript Rajinder Singh Bajwa, senior officials of the Chief Minister’s Office and the concerned departments were present at the meeting.

Taking serious note of reports regarding spiraling prices of sand in the state following the government’s crackdown on illegal mining, the Chief Minister also asked the Water Resources Department to ensure timely dredging of about 50 lakh tonnes of sand from the rivers.

Instructing the members of the cabinet sub-committee to expedite the process of review of the Mining Policy, Captain Amarinder Singh said the state could not afford delay in this regard and he was personally keen to streamline the business further so that the genuine bidders and contractors do not suffer. He did not want the genuine contractors to be further harassed in any way, the Chief Minister added.

While reiterating his government’s resolve to completely wipe out the illegal mining mafia from the state, the Chief Minister stressed the need to further restructure and simplify the processes and systems, to the extent necessary to bring about total transparency in the business.

Captain Amarinder assured the meeting that prices of sand in the state would automatically come down and the situation would get normalized as soon as the business systems are improved.

The Chief Minister, meanwhile, once again directed the police and district administration in the mining areas to keep a close watch on the mining activities and crack down heavily on all illegal goings-on in their respective districts.

The meeting was attended by the Chief Secretary Karan Avtar Singh, Chief Principal Secretary to CM Suresh Kumar, Principal Secretary Finance Anirudh Tiwari, Principal Secretary Water Resources Jaspal Singh, Principal Secretary Tejveer Singh and Director-cum-Secretary Mining Kumar Rahul.