Jaipur : It may take 6 months for the people forced to buy expensive gravel in Rajasthan to get relief. After the new gravel mines start functioning, gravel available in Jaipur at Rs. 1400 per tonne can be available at Rs. 600 per tonne. Currently, up to Rs. 900 per tonne is being charged in gravel mines in the river. But in the allocation of new mines, this rate has been fixed at Rs. 200 per tonne. The allocation of new mines has started. 3 mines of Banas river have been allotted to the government company RSMML a few days ago. At the same time, 32 more mines are to be auctioned soon. This auction will be held next month. According to the officials of the Mines Department, it will take about 6 months for the mines to start functioning after allocation. The main reason for this is to obtain environmental clearance certificate.
Gravel has become more expensive in the state including the capital Jaipur for the past few days. In Jaipur, gravel was available for Rs. 1150 per tonne till a few days ago. Now it is available for Rs. 1400 per tonne or more. Currently, there are about 23 gravel mines in the state, but only one mine is operational in Uniara of Tonk district in the Banas river. Due to this, the price of gravel has once again reached the sky.
Letter of intent issued for three mines
The state government has taken a good initiative to break the back of the gravel mafia and has put the government company RSMML into gravel mining as a pilot project. Letters of intent have been issued for three mines. These mines will become operational after getting the environmental clearance certificate. Apart from this, auction of 32 mines will be held in July next month. These mines range from 40 to 100 hectares.
Prices will come down like this
It has been included in the terms of the mine auction that gravel can be sold up to four times including royalty. The royalty is currently Rs. 50 per ton. In such a situation, gravel will be available from the river at Rs. 200 per ton. If we talk about Jaipur, the freight from Banas river can be up to Rs. 400 to Rs. 500 per ton. In this way, gravel will be available in Jaipur at Rs. 600 to Rs. 700 per ton.
700 lakh tonne annual requirement
According to the officials of the Mines Department, the annual consumption of gravel in the state is 700 lakh tons. Currently, 23 gravel mines are operational. Next month, 32 gravel mines will be auctioned. After that, preparations are on to auction more than 70 more mines. Compared to earlier, smaller mines are being allotted. Due to this, the number of gravel mines can reach 150 in the future. Due to the small and large number of mines, no one will have a monopoly on the gravel business.
Gravel will also be available from Bisalpur
With the approval of starting gravel extraction from Bisalpur dam, people will be able to get gravel from here as well. This will ensure availability of gravel in sufficient quantity in the market.
