A day after Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant dedicated 16 public mines to the people, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Monday said that this initiative will eradicate ‘sand-related slip mafia, transport mafia and political mafia.
Lauding the step taken by the Mann government to provide sand and gravel at Rs 5.50 per cubic feet to the people of Punjab, AAP Punjab chief spokesperson Malwinder Singh Kang said the entire system has been made transparent by fulfilling another guarantee given by AAP chief Arvind Kejriwal during poll campaigns.
Addressing a press conference, Kang said as with the opening of public mines, sand-related slip mafia, transport mafia and political mafia will be eradicated, now, the public’s funds will be utilised for the welfare of the public, instead of going into the pocket of a mafia.
He said that earlier common people used to get sand and gravel at exorbitant rates and coffers of the mafia were being filled up. But now common people will get sand from these mines without any problem at the fixed Rs 5.50 per cubic feet.
Kang said earlier this money used to go into the pockets of the slip mafia, transport mafia and political mafia connected to the sand, but now it will go to the government coffers from where it will be used only for providing amenities to the common people and public welfare works.
Political people used to misuse this for their vested interest earlier and harmed government treasury and now this will also be stopped, the AAP leader said.
The CM dedicated 16 public mines spread over seven districts to the people on Sunday. He said 16 mines have been dedicated to the people and by next month 50 more such mines will be operational across the state.
Mann said the state government has eradicated the sand mafia which had flexed its muscles in the past to ensure that people get cheap sand.
Mann said only manual excavation of sand will be permitted in these public mining sites and no mechanical excavation of sand will be allowed.
He said no mining contractor will be allowed to operate in these public mining sites. Sand from public mining sites will only be sold for use in construction of non-commercial projects.
The Chief Minister said that the sale of sand will happen only till sunset and a government official will always be present to regulate the extraction of sand at each public mining site. He said that the state government has built an app which will give complete information to people about public mining sites and will even facilitate online payments
