BJP government failed to achieve its revenue targets due to illegal mining- Vallabh
Friday, 04 February 2022 | PNS | Dehradun
In a direct attack on chief minister Pushkar Singh Dhami the Congress party has said that rampant illegal mining is going on in the state under his patronage. Terming CM Dhami as Mining Loving (Khanan Priya) chief minister the national spokesman of Congress, Gaurav Vallabh said here on Thursday that the data of the Uttarakhand government suggests that the official revenue from the mining is decreasing. “In the year 2017-18 the revenue target from mining was Rs 620 crore against which a revenue of Rs 437 crore was obtained. In the year 2018-19 the target was Rs 750 core and revenue collection was Rs 541 Crore. Similarly Rs Rs 391 crore and Rs 500 crore were the collected revenue against target of Rs 750 crore in the year 2019-20 and 20-21 respectively. In the year 2021-22 when present CM Dhami was in chair the state could only get a revenue of Rs 178 crore till October 2021 against a target of Rs 750 crore in 2021-22,’’ he said.
Vallabh said that in the last five years the BJP government was not able to achieve its revenue targets due to illegal mining. He said that the state government allotted mining leases in the name of land levelling under its mining policy 2021 which was termed illegal by the High Court. “The BJP government didn’t take the permission of the Union government for it,’’ he said.
Vallabh said that the affinity of CM Dhami for mining could be understood from the fact that he reinstated the services of his controversial Public Relations Officer (PRO) Nandan Singh Bisht days before enforcement of Model Code of Conduct in the state. Bisht was removed after a letter written by him asking the SP of Bageshwar to release three trucks confiscated by the police. The Congress spokesperson alleged that the SDM of Lohaghat was transferred because he was taking action on illegal mining. “ The BJP workers have accused the cabinet minister Swami Yatishwaranand of providing patronage to the illegal mining,’’ Vallabh added.
The Congress leader claimed that when in power the Congress government would stop illegal mining from March 10 itself and initiate inquiry on illegal mining activities and book the culprits.
