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Chandigarh, May 24
In an embarrassment for the Capt Amarinder Singh government, which has hailed its record bids of Rs 1,026 crore for 89 sand and gravel quarries auctioned on May 19-20, the state has actually succeeded in selling only 45 per cent of the auctioned sites and may only rake in around Rs 310 crore.
Since 55 per cent of the bid amount should have been deposited by 5 pm today, ideally, considering the total bids of a whopping Rs 1,026 crore, the government should have received Rs 564 crore. The amount received today was just 30 per cent of the amount that should have been received in case of 100 per cent success.
None of the bidders, who bid for quarries in Ropar, Ferozepur and Fazilka, have come forward to honour their bids. The highest bidders will now lose their security and these bids will be auctioned again, in case the second highest bidder too refuses to take up the contract.
Of the 89 successful bidders, only 43-odd bidders have come forward to deposit the initial 25 per cent security, 25 per cent installment and land compensation charges at the rate of Rs 15 per tonne to the land owners where quarrying of these minor minerals is allowed. None of the bidders, who had made exorbitant bids (almost 30 to 40 times higher than the reserve price for a quarry) has turned up to fulfil the condition for depositing 55 per cent of the bid amount by today evening.
Initial data compiled by the Directorate of Mining, Department of Industries reveals that the bids of Rs 51 crore received for the Rail Baramad quarry in Nawanshahr and of Rs 29 crore for Adalatgarh quarry in Pathankot have not been honoured. Officials say most of the bidders, who had made unrealistic high bids, have now claimed that they thought the amount was for the entire five-year contract and had thus made high bids. When they realised that the bid amount was to be paid each year for the next five years, they withdrew.
Information gathered by The Tribune reveals that of the total bids for Rs 238.14 crore received for 12 quarries in Nawanshahr, only three have been auctioned and the state received just Rs 27.68 crore. In Pathankot, only one of the five quarries put on the block was auctioned and the state received just Rs 9.51 crore. For Amritsar, total bids of Rs 51.48 crore were made for seven quarries, but only three quarries have finally been auctioned and government received just Rs 9.64 crore.
In Ludhiana, one bidder, who made high bids for Dopana, Sikandpur and Razapur quarries (Rs 94 crore in all), backed out and only 13 of 17 quarries were auctioned and the state received just Rs 52 crore against bids of Rs 205 crore. Mohali and Gurdaspur, too, saw the bidders backing off and only Rs 19.82 crore and Rs 14.28 crore was realised today.
