Minister for Mines and Geology P. Mahender Reddy has directed the officials concerned to speed up the auction of mining blocks.
Dr. Mahender Reddy, who was recently inducted into the State Cabinet, held a meeting on Friday to review the status of mining blocks for which environmental clearances were obtained. Officials informed the Minister that the department has recorded a revenue of ₹3,884 crore during the current year as against the target of ₹2,267 crore set for the fiscal.
Expressing happiness over the development, he wanted the officials concerned to work effectively in further surpassing the targets set for the department. The State government was contemplating on improving the policy that was being implemented for leasing mines, including the smaller ones.
The Minister, who inquired about the sand policy in operation, said that Telangana’s sand policy was being emulated by other States. Officials concerned should take steps to see that people in need of sand should not be inconvenienced and should be provided sand at reasonable prices, he said.
The officials brought to his notice about 127 vacant posts in the department and he said that he would take the matter to the notice of Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao for necessary approvals. The Minister stressed the need to leverage technology to strengthen the department further.
‘Ensure transparency’
He exhorted the officials to ensure transparency through e-auction of sand and said that the government would not tolerate any shortcomings in the process. There are 101 sand reaches in the State under the scanner of 400 CCTV cameras to see that there was no scope for any irregularities.
