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Patna : Bihar Industries Association (BIA) on August 14, 2017, expressed its serious concern over complete stoppage of construction activities in the state including building construction, road construction, bridge construction which is also affecting allied industries like Cement, Steel, Bricks, stonechip due to non-availability of sand in the market.
BIA President Ram Lall Khetan, in a statement issued here, said Bihar is devoid of all minerals but nature has gifted it with abundance water, sand and silt, which belong to people of Bihar and they are entitled to their free use. The government can impose taxes on behalf of people of the state but while imposing taxes, it should ensure that sand and silt is freely available to people of Bihar. The government is supposed to take steps to increase employment of citizen so that they live happily with their family in the state.
” The government is not supposed take away employment from unorganized sectors like home construction, transportation, loading/ unloading work & from organized sector like development of infrastructure like Rail, Road, multistory building construction, Cement Industry, Steel Industry. Green Tribunal and Department of Environment is also not authorized to take away largescale employment of citizens of country,” BIA President Khetan said.
He opinioned that the Department of Mines & Geology has failed in its duty to make sand and silt available to the people of Bihar causing largescale unemployment in the state due to stoppage of all kinds of house construction, toilet construction, project housing construction, infrastructure development work, construction of Railway, National Highways, Roads, Building Construction and other development work.
Senior Vice President, BIA, A K P Sinha is of the view and opinion that one of the goals of state and central government is to provide house to all citizens. The Central and state governments are committed to stop open defecation for which toilets are required but because of non availability of sand, work has completely stopped and workers in house construction have become unemployed, he said.
Sinha said that even in Haryana and Punjab sand mining activities continues on the old course of rivers where water is not flowing. On similar pattern, Mining Department should have taken steps so that mining of sand continues on the old courses of rivers and on islands formed in rivers known as Diara in Bihar. Sanjay Bhartiya, also a BIA vice-president, feels that if sand & silt are not taken out and put to some other use then they will flow with the water raising the riverbed and cause flood along the bank of river.