NAWANSHAHR: As part of the Punjab government's efforts to provide cheap sand to the common people in the state, the number of public sand mines in the district has reached eight with the opening of two more public sand mines at Begowal and Talwandi Sibbu in the district yesterday.
District Mining Officer-cum-Executive Engineer, Happy Kumar said that two sand quarries of Nawanshahr were also included in the 20 public sand quarries dedicated by Punjab Chief Minister, Bhagwant Mann, yesterday. He said that these public sand mines are providing sand to common people at Rs 5.50 per cubic feet from the pit head. He said that the loading from the pit head will be owned by the concerned trolley owner.
He said that apart from the two new public sand mines, Begowal and Talwandi Sibbu announced yesterday, Khoja, Burj Tehil Das, Ratnana, Saidpur, Phool Makori and Auliyapur sand mines are already functional in the district.
SDO Mining Gurjit Singh said that only trolleys can load sand at all the public sand mines, otherwise there is a complete ban on loading of tippers etc. He said that it is mandatory to have double tires of trolleys and cover the sand with tarpaulin after loading with sand.
He further informed that at each public sand mine, ex-servicemen provided by PESCO/JE, Beldar of the department are monitoring the sand loading carefully.
According to District Mining Officer Happy Kumar, apart from public sand mines in the district, tenders for commercial sand mines have also been floated at ADB Rail and Paragpur sites, while preparations are being made for the tendering process to open a commercial sand quarry at Mandhala as well. He said that with the start of commercial sand quarries in the district, tippers will also be able to load sand mechanically.
He said that the common people are getting a huge benefit from the existing public sand mines in the district, from where they are getting sand at Rs 5.50 per cubic feet excluding the cost of loading. He said that except for the two public sand mines that started yesterday, 400 to 450 trolleys are being loaded with sand daily from the rest of the sand mines. So far, revenue of Rs 2.25 crore has been earned by government treasury from the 6 mines made operational earlier.