The state government will evolve a mechanism to check corrupt practices associated with the misuse of transit passes in the transportation of minerals to prevent royalty losses and maintain the pace of developmental works in the State. These directions were given by the CM Thakur Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu while presiding over a meeting of Industries department.
The Chief Minister expressed concern over reports indicating the use of fake transit passes on multiple occasions for mineral transportation, resulting in significant royalty losses to the state exchequer.
To address this, the state government had earlier introduced Rule 81A, which mandates a deduction of Rs. 80 as royalty and Rs. 20 as penalty per tonne from the panchayats and other executing agencies undertaking developmental works, in case transit passes are not available. However, the implementation of Rule 81A is currently under stay by the High Court and the matter is scheduled for hearing on 25th April.
In view of the situation and to ensure timely execution of developmental works, the Chief Minister instructed the Industries department to explore all possible solutions and alternatives in this regard. A delegation of representatives of PRIs also met the Chief Minister on Tuesday and urged him to address this issue.
Industries Minister Harshwardhan Chauhan, Additional Chief Secretary K.K. Pant, Advocate General, H.P. High Court Anup Rattan, Secretary Law Sharad Kumar Lagwal, Director Industries Dr. Yunus, OSD to Chief Minister Gopal Sharma and other senior officers were also present on the occasion.
