Sand mining: State earns Rs 200 cr through royalty and cess collection
kolkata: The robust online mechanism introduced by the Mamata Banerjee government for excavation and sale of sand has contributed in doubling the revenue through royalty and cess collected for transportation of the building material. The state has earned a revenue of Rs 200 crore in the financial year 2021-22 which is 100 per cent increase in terms of 2010-11 fiscal when the revenue was Rs 100 crore.
"Earlier the entire process of allotting sand banks and monitoring of the transportation of the building material used to be done manually and there was ample scope of pilferage. However, with the introduction of a new 'Sand Mining Policy' last year that empowered the West Bengal Mineral Development and Trading Corporation (WBMDTCL) as the monitoring authority, we have been able to curb pilferage to a reasonable extent. Most importantly, this is helping common people to get sand at the right price," a senior official of WBMDTCL said.
In the present "scientific, environmentally sustainable and socially responsible" process, all lessees have been provided with login id and password and e-challan is generated as soon as the payment is done. The physical process was time consuming. Moreover, lessees no longer need to visit a number of offices for getting the nod for transportation of sand. Over 27 lakhs e-challans have been generated till date since its inception in November last year.The interstate movement of sand has also been made online through railway and road-network. The necessary integration has been made so that the rail also has an idea of material being transported and keep track accordingly.
The enforcement mechanism has also been strengthened with officers of any enforcement agency getting access to the permit details just by scanning the QR code on the road challan which controls the illegal sale of sand. "We will soon launch an app using which officers of enforcement authorities can get the transport permit status just by keying in the registration number of the truck carrying sand. It will curb the movement of vehicles evading royalty and check overloading," the official added.WBMDTCL has identified 30 new sand blocks in six to seven districts which will be e -auctioned. Tender will be floated this month itself for selection of empanelled companies.
