Madhya Pradesh minister urges CM Kamal Nath to relax ban on sand mining

Madhya Pradesh Women and Child Development Minister Imarti Devi has penned a letter to Chief Minister Kamal Nath urging him for a partial relaxation of the ban on sand mining. She referred to six sand mines in her assembly constituency. Mentioning that the Department of Minerals in MP had given the green signal for the 6 sand mines to be operational, she alleged that the Gwalior district administration had imposed a ban on the practice, leading to a shortage of supply of sand in the region. Imarti Devi requested Nath to immediately direct the administration to allow the resumption of operations at sand mines which had the requisite permit.  

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In her letter, Minister Imarti Devi stated, "I request you to immediately direct district administration to resume operations at sand mines that have permit.” 

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Congress comes out in defence, BJP smells conspiracy

The letter evoked a number of reactions from both the ruling Congress party as well as BJP. BJP MLA Vishwas Sarang accused Devi of giving protection to people involved in illegal sand mining. Moreover, he opined that the Minister ought to have raised issues pertaining to the development of women and the child, which is her portfolio. On the other hand, Congress defended her request to the CM. Party spokesperson Narendra Saluja maintained that Devi had done nothing wrong. He claimed that the construction work in the Gwalior region was being affected due to the ban on sand mining. Illegal sand mining was one of the major issues during the 2018 MP Assembly polls. 

(With ANI inputs)

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