Capt govt slashes reserve price, but bids for clusters barely top base rate

During the e-auction on Monday, Block 1 (Ropar) cluster went for Rs 49.84 crore, a little above the reserve price of Rs 49.54 crore. The earlier reserve price was at Rs 55.04 crore and had to be reduced for want of bidders.

After getting no response from bidders in three sand clusters in the e-auction on July 5, the Punjab government slashed the reserve price for them, but still failed to attract bidder for one, while selling the other two at a price only marginally higher than the base rate. Four blocks were put on auction on Monday, out of which three were sold. On July 5 earlier, three blocks had been successfully auctioned. In both e-auctions, all the six mines went close to the base price only.

During the e-auction on Monday, Block 1 (Ropar) cluster went for Rs 49.84 crore, a little above the reserve price of Rs 49.54 crore. The earlier reserve price was at Rs 55.04 crore and had to be reduced for want of bidders.

Similarly, in Block 4 (Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur), the cluster went for Rs 29.01 crore against a reserve price of Rs 28.81, slashed from Rs 32 crore.

In Block 7 (Mohali, Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib), there were no takers despite reducing the reserve price from Rs 39.47 crore to Rs 35.52 crore. Incidentally, maximum illegal mining takes place in these districts.

In Block 5 (Amritsar, Tarn Taran and Kapurthala), bidding could not take place on July 5 as there was only one bidder. But on Monday, three bidders expressed interest and the mine went for Rs 34.40 crore against a base price of Rs 34.1 crore.

Three out of seven clusters were auctioned on July 5. Block 2 (Nawanshahar, Jalandhar, Ludhiana, Barnala, Sangrur and Mansa) recorded the highest bid of Rs 60 crore against a reserved price of Rs 58.52 crore.

The Block 3 cluster (Moga, Ferozepur, Fazilka, Bathinda, Faridkot), witnessed a highest bid of Rs 40.5 crore against a reserve price of Rs 40 crore. Block 6 (Pathankot) cluster had gone for Rs 62.18 crore against base price of Rs 60.03 crore.

Sources told The Indian Express that pooling took place for almost all the clusters with bidders reaching a compromise and not letting the bid go much higher than the reserve price.

Punjab Mining and Geology Minister Sukhbinder Singh Sarkaria , after the auction said that Punjab had earned record Rs 274.75 crore from e-auction of six clusters of mines.

Sarkaria said that the department has achieved 90 per cent target in earning revenue and this amount is the highest ever earnings for the state government from the mining business. Sarkaria said that Punjab government is expecting to earn over Rs 300 crore annually from the mines.

He said that the release of surplus sand into the market will lead to easing of pressure, thus earning huge revenue for the state government, which will eventually lead to significant lowering of sand prices. He said they would effectively check illegal mining.

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