In a move to crack down on illegal mining and tax evasion by miners, Punjab chief Minister (CM) Amarinder Singh on Monday ordered the setting up of special multi-department joint teams.

These teams will be headed by the respective Deputy Commissioners (DCs) in all the districts of the state. The teams would comprise officials from taxation, mining, revenue and police departments, an official spokesperson said on Monday.

It was also added that they would be mandated to set up nakas (check-post) to check illegal mining and evasion of taxes. Taking a serious view of the problem of illegal mining, CM made it clear that offenders would not be spared at any cost. Illegal mining and tax evasion had led to heavy losses for the state exchequer and needed to be checked on priority, said the CM adding that the state could not afford any more financial losses.

The CM further warned that no political interference would be tolerated in the matter and instructed officials to initiate the crackdown on priority without any delay. The CM also directed increased vigil on stone crushers, which are located in the three districts of Rupnagar, SAS Nagar and Pathankot, said the spokesperson after a review of the Mining Department during a meeting of the Sub-Committee on Finance.

To streamline the functioning of the mining department and make it more effective, the meeting also held tentative discussions on a proposal to set up a new mining department with manpower to be drawn in from various related departments, said the official spokesperson.

Apprising the meeting of details of revenue generation from the mining business this financial year, the department revealed that with two more auctions scheduled in this fiscal, the total revenue generation in 2017-18 would increase many fold. It is further estimated that the revenue generation from mining would triple next year.

The mines to be auctioned on 19 February include 48 sand mines (1.64 Croretonnes) and three gravel (0.2 crore tonnes), while the 15 March auctions will have 145 mines (2.7 Croretonnes) of sand and 18 mines (0.2 crore tonnes) of gravel being open to bidding.

Department officials further informed the meeting that as many as 34 of the mines auctioned so far (spread over 329 hectares) had not yet become operational. Once production in these begins, the revenue generation would be further augmented, they said, adding that earnings could go up to Rs 600-800 Crore with just 10 per cent increasing in mining production.