Complaining of anomalies in the process,bidders,who participated in the e-auction of mines in Punjab,have submitted a complaint to the industries department demanding that the process be scrapped and the auction be held again. The auction of 20 mines in Category A was held on Sunday after the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MOEF) gave its nod for the process. Of these,11 are in Pathankot,6 in Roopnagar,2 in Mohali and one in Patiala. The bidding began at 9 am and was to go on till 11 am. In case of bids just before 11 am,a five minute extension would be granted. Every subsequent bid would earn a five minute extension. In this manner,the auction was to close at 2 pm. The bidders from across Punjab have complained that as they tried to bid for the mines,the amounts were not being accepted on the website. After several of them faced these problems,they all collected at the Punjab Industries and Commerce Department in Sector 17 and submitted a complaint. The complainants allege that bids submitted at 10.58 am for Roopnagar and 11.03 am for Mohali,were not accepted. Rajesh Garg,who bid for a mine at Mohali,said that while the website was functioning,their bids were not being accepted. While we were willing to bid higher,the amount was not being accepted on the website. This was a problem with a large number of bidders across Punjab. We want the process to be scrapped and the auction held again, he said. Another bidder blamed the problem on the sand mafia functioning in Punjab. He said that people engaged in the trade for a long time were now suffering and the prices of the construction material including sand and gravel were sky-rocketing. Director Industries and Commerce,Punjab,Vikas Pratap,said that a report has been sought from Infotech,the IT solutions firm tasked with conducting the e-auction. The Category A and B sites have stone crushers for gravel which were halted in August last year due to the blanket ban on mining following strictures by the Punjab and Haryana High Court. The High Court has also ordered constitution of a Special Investigation Team to probe illegal mining. Union team will probe illegal sand mining in Punjab: Tewari A team from the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) will visit Punjab soon to look into reports of illegal sand mining in the state,Union Information and Broadcasting Minister and Ludhiana MP Manish Tewari said on Monday after meeting Union Environment Minister Jayanti Natarajan in New Delhi. Tewari said he submitted a detailed memorandum to the union minister bringing to her notice the unchecked abuse of sand mines in Punjab that is threatening to create a serious environmental disaster in the state. He added that he brought to Natarajans attention,the widespread sand mining from the states river beds with alleged patronage from the ruling dispensation in Punjab. Although the state claims to be allowing very limited mining and that too after environmental clearance,the actual situation is quite different as the quarrying continues everywhere,Tewaris memorandum states. Tewari said the state government in 2006,during the Congress regime,had made an environmental clearance,mandatory for sand mining but,he alleged,all norms were thrown to the wind once the regime changed in 2007.
