Jharkhand restores decision to give sand mining right to panchayats

Jharkhand government on Thursday restored its earlier decision to give rights to the panchayats over sand mining, weeks after it allowed the minor mineral to go under the hammer.

The decision was taken by the Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister Hemant Soren, Principal Secretary (Cabinet Co-ordination) JB Tubid told reporters in Ranchi. Now the panchyats will have the right over the minor mineral, he added.

And the Cabinet decided to scrap the process of auctioning in whichever district it began while rules would be followed to scrap wherever the tender process had completed.

The decision comes in the wake of demands by ruling allies RJD and Congress to scrap the recent decision to allow auctioning process for sand mining with an aim to increase revenue.

Now the Cabinet decided to impose five per cent VAT on milk, bidi and a couple of other items to increase revenue.