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The industries department has allowed 71 out of 130 stone crushers, which were closed following the state government order of August 23, to resume operations in Himachal Pradesh, industries minister Harshwardhan Chauhan informed the House in a written reply to a question raised by Dehra MLA Hoshyar Singh. Aggregate Crusher
The minister also informed that sand and gravel are not covered under essential commodities, and hence their prices cannot be controlled by the government. Chauhan said sand and gravel were being sold by stone crusher owners across the state at different prices, depending upon various factors due to diversified geographical conditions.
On the issue of resuming the operation of stone crushers, it was stated that based on the reports of the multi-sectoral expert committee, the operation of 47 crushers was permitted by the industries department on November 21.
As per the recommendations of the committee, the government has also constituted a state-level high powered committee to examine the cases of remaining closed stone crushers on a case-by-case basis.
During the first meeting of the committee held on December 4, a total of 47 stone crusher units represented their cases and out of them, 24 units that produced their valid permissions and complied with different regulations were allowed by the committee to start operation. In the rest of the cases, a few shortcomings, including the renewal of consent to operate (COP), environment clearance, etc. were noticed, and the same shall be allowed after obtaining the required clearances.
11 officers given extension of service in last two years: Sukhu
A total of 11 officers in various departments were given an extension of service in the last two years up to August 31 by the state, chief minister (CM) Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu informed the House in a written reply to a question raised by the Dehra MLA.
Among the officers granted extension of service, about 10 were teachers— six in the elementary education and four in higher education departments.
One of them is the winner of the National Teachers Award and nine have received the state-level awards. The state government has a policy to give an extension of service to the award-winning teachers.
Apart from that, one deputy director-level officer was given an extension of service in labour and employment.
The CM said the officer was to superannuate on November 30, 2022. As per the prevalent Recruitment and Promotion Rules, the said post was required to be filled up by way of direct recruitment through Himachal Pradesh Public Service Commission (HPPSC) and could have taken considerable time due to the procedural formalities. Consequently, the post was likely to remain vacant for a long time, which would’ve adversely affected the work of the department.
Cone Crusher Video The officer was fulfilling both the criteria of grant of extension and hence was given an extension of service till May 31, 2023, the CM said in the reply tabled in the house.