Chandigarh, Dec 18 (PTI) Punjab Mines and Geology Minister Harjot Singh Bains on Sunday said the state government will open its first sales centre for selling sand and gravel to people in Mohali on December 19.

He said such sales centres will be opened in all districts of the state.

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“A big relief for People of Punjab by @BhagwantMann JI's govt. as tomorrow we inaugurate first govt. sale centre of sand & gravel in Mohali. Such sale centres will be opened in each district of Punjab. End of mining mafia,” Bains tweeted.

Currently, people procure sand and gravel from the open market.

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An official said the construction material will be brought from the government-run mining sites for sale at a stockyard set up at Mohali.

The AAP government earlier had come under fire from the opposition over high rates of construction material in the state.

The Punjab government in August had amended the 2021 sand and gravel mining policy to fix the rates of sand at Rs 9 per cubic feet and the maximum retail price of gravel at Rs 20 per cubic feet, excluding transportation charges.

Illegal sand mining was among key issues during the 2022 state assembly polls and the Aam Aadmi Party had targeted the previous government over it during the poll campaigning.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)