Complete auction of commercial sand ghats by Sept 15: Jharkhand chief secy to officers

Ranchi, Aug 20 (PTI) Jharkhand Chief Secretary Alka Tiwari on Wednesday directed that the auction process for all commercial sand ghats be completed by the first fortnight of September.

She also asked all deputy commissioners (DCs) to understand the new policy for sand ghats to make the auction process transparent and avoid technical issues.

"The new policy aims to make sand available to consumers at a fair price, while completely banning illegal sand trade and discouraging the inflow of sand from other states," said Tiwari, addressing the DCs through video-conferencing.

Mines Secretary Arava Rajkamal, who was present at the meeting, said the DCs will have an important role to play in the auctioning of sand ghats.

"The National Green Tribunal's ban on mining of sand from sand ghats will end after October 15. Completing the auction process before it will help ensure timely mining and prevent a shortage of sand in the state," he said, according to an official statement.

Rajkamal said the government would not fix the price of sand.

Sand ghats have been divided into two categories in the state.

The first category includes sand ghats with an area of less than 5 hectare each, which will be operated through gram sabhas. There are 374 such sand ghats, the statement said.

The second category includes sand ghats with an area of more than 5 hectares, which will be auctioned.

"For this, a total of 60 groups have been formed by combining small and large sand ghats. No individual will be allotted a sand ghat with an area exceeding 1,000 hectare, nor will they be given contracts for more than two groups," the statement said. PTI SAN SAN SOM